


Accio! (Assemble)

by widowbitesandhearingaids



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Hogwarts!au, Multi, Multiship, been thinking about this for a while and actually planned out the plot (shockingly), lil angsty (lot angsty who am i kidding)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-22
Updated: 2015-07-06
Packaged: 2018-03-31 19:04:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3989260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/widowbitesandhearingaids/pseuds/widowbitesandhearingaids
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six exceptional students. One club meant to ensure the safety of the school. Magic, mischief, danger, and loss. What it means to be a hero, and what it is that makes a villain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Anniversary

**Author's Note:**

> so this is a fic i have been thinking about for a very long time and wouldn't let me alone until i wrote it so here we are
> 
> note: i have put a lot of thought into why each person is in the House they are in please respect my decisions
> 
> also i'm on tumblr! widowbitesandhearingaids.tumblr.com

“Drinking alone, Rogers?” Steve sighs just the tiniest bit at the familiar voice at his back. “I thought that was more Stark’s style.”

“How’d you find me?” Steve asks without looking at her, taking a long swig of firewhiskey. He’s not surprised that she was able to track him down. Natasha’s got a very uncanny knack for knowing things that she shouldn’t.

“It’s been two years,” Natasha says, settling down beside him. Her brilliantly red hair practically glows in the moonlight. Somehow, the night is always brighter on the anniversary. Steve still hasn’t decided if he hates that or not. “You were going to have to come back here sooner or later.”

“One day I’m going to surprise you, Romanoff. You just wait.” The words are meant to be teasing but Steve can’t force any lightheartedness into his voice. Not today. Natasha doesn’t say anything, just accepts the bottle when Steve passes it to her, and together they sit, watching the stars dance in a cloudless sky. Steve used to love the Astronomy Tower. The quiet, the solitude, the way the grounds were laid out at his feet and he imagined he could feel himself soaking up every bit of magic the school had to offer. Sometimes, when he knew that it would be empty, Steve would come up in the middle of the night to paint. With only the moonlight to see by and only adding the smallest bit of magic, Steve captured the landscape, and on the canvas it breathed like a living thing. He made dozens of them, always finding a different angle to paint, a new spot to focus on. Hogwarts is many things, but boring is not one of them.

Those paintings are all gone now, destroyed when Bucky…when it happened. Even two years later, Steve can hardly make himself think the words. Bucky is dead. His Bucky. His best friend, his whole goddamn world, is gone. Not just gone, but left. Jumped off of this fucking tower two years ago today. When you lose someone like that, they say that you go through stages of grief. Denial, anger, acceptance, all of that. Steve thought that he’d worked through it all, but sitting on the cold stone, Bucky’s absence hurts just as much as it did when they first told him that Bucky had killed himself. Even more, if that’s possible. At least then, he’d been numb. It hadn’t made sense at the time. Bucky was happy. _They_ were happy. He was doing well in his classes – he was even being tutored by Headmaster Pierce. Steve remembers how jealous he was when Bucky was selected with a guilty twinge in his stomach. It hadn’t made sense. It still doesn’t make sense, but now he feels the place where Bucky should be like a gaping, corrosive hole in his chest, eating him alive from the inside out. Before it happened, Steve had always thought people were being dramatic when they talked about heartbreak like it was a tangible thing, but the ache is always there. Some days are worse than others. The anniversary is always the worst.

“We should go,” Steve says when he hears the clock chime nine pm. He’s been hiding up here for the whole day – skived off all his classes too. But it’s getting late and he should get back to the dormitory.

“We are going to stay right here,” Natasha says firmly. “You are not nearly drunk enough yet and honestly, the gossip of goody-two-shoes Steve Rogers going AWOL for a whole day is going to be the most entertaining thing to happen around here in weeks.” Steve manages a weak smile that doesn’t last very long.

“You know I don’t get drunk,” Steve says. The experimental magic that saved him when he was young and sick also messed with his immune system and metabolism. He could drink all the firewhiskey the Three Broomsticks has to offer, but he’d probably throw up from the taste before he even felt a little bit buzzed.

“Your lack of faith in me is hurtful,” Natasha says, producing a bottle out of her robes. The liquid inside is clear, but it stinks of alcohol and magic. “Clint nicked it from the kitchens for me, special favor.”

“What, you couldn’t get it yourself?”

“Don’t be an ass Rogers,” Natasha says, knocking her shoulder into his. This time Steve really does smile. He knows that the only place in the whole of the castle that Natasha can’t get herself into is the kitchens. The house elves won’t tolerate her in there, probably because she nearly set the whole place on fire their first year. Six years later, there’s still a ban on that ‘red-haired Slytherin girl.’ “If you don’t drink my very special Stoli, then I will drink it myself and you’re going to have to take care of a very drunk me.” Rolling his eyes, Steve takes the bottle from her, taking a tentative sip and nearly spitting it back out again. “It’s got a little kick,” Natasha says helpfully after the fact.

“No kidding,” Steve splutters. “God damn. Bucky would have loved this stuff,” he says softly, taking another sip.

“No one can outdrink a Russian, but the Irish do come close.” Natasha agrees. She didn’t know Bucky very well – she and Steve didn’t talk much until fifth year Potions – but everyone mourned when Bucky died. Suicides don’t happen at Hogwarts, and Bucky’s shook the school to its core. “How’d you know?” she asks. “That you loved him?” Steve doesn’t answer for a moment, cringing when the Stoli meets his lips again.

“Tasha – ” Steve says.

“Talking helps,” Natasha cuts him off before he can argue. “And sitting here in silence getting drunk with me isn’t going to make it hurt any less. Trust me.” He does. Natasha knows loss and she’s got ghosts, even more than he does. She’s never said a word but Steve recognizes a kindred spirit when he sees one. “So, out with the mushy love story Rogers.”

“I always needed him, you know?” Steve says finally. “Back when we were first years, I was still sick. I could barely walk without having an asthma attack let alone any kind of intensive magic. Bucky helped me through it, and when the Healers at St. Mungo’s fixed me, he was still there. Still loved me, even though I wasn’t the skinny little kid who couldn’t levitate a feather without help.” It doesn’t sound like much, but it was amazing how people treated him differently once he was whole. More than whole. Special. People who liked it when he needed help disappeared once he didn’t, and people who had all but ignored the sickly Gryffindor first-year were dying to get to know him when he was better. Only Bucky remained.

“Like I said,” Natasha says, smirking. “Sappy.”

“Well we can’t all have a relationship based on sarcasm and some of the most terrifying magic I’ve ever seen.”

“Ours is a special love,” Natasha agrees. “I dueled Barnes once, did he ever tell you?” she asks after a long silence. Steve turns to look her full in the face for the first time all night, and finds her lips curled into a smile and those green eyes bright with amusement. “Fourth year. Some asshole was hassling Clint and I, well, you know how I get.” Does he ever. There’s not much inter-House tension these days, but Natasha dating a goofy Hufflepuff like Clint? People talked. People learned very quickly not to. “So I challenged him and I was two curses in before Barnes got in the way.”

“He stopped you?” That doesn’t sound like Bucky, especially if Natasha was defending Clint.

“Wouldn’t you have?” Natasha asks. “If you’d seen me three years ago trying to hex a kid into oblivion, wouldn’t you have tried to stop me too?” Steve wants to argue, but it would be a lie. Natasha’s come a long way, but when they were younger and before the happiness from dating Clint started to smooth out the rough edges (which are by no means gone) Natasha had a fearsome reputation. She takes his silence as agreement. “He started in on me before I could explain and it was a full two minutes before I got a Body-Bind on him.” Natasha pauses so that Steve can appreciate how long Bucky lasted against her. “And when I finally did explain and release him…Well, Barnes turned around and jinxed the hell out of that kid. Rumlow, I think it was. To this day it’s the best Bat-Bogey Hex I’ve ever seen.” She smiles wistfully. “Damn, that was a good fight. I swore him to secrecy, and Rumlow would never tell, but he always kept an eye out for Clint and me. I’m grateful for that.” She takes a long pull of the magicked Stoli and lapses into silence. It’s probably the longest Steve has ever heard her speak for. He smiles fondly at the thought of Bucky and Tash being friends. If he’d liked her then, he’d love her now. Bucky would love the whole ragtag team, although Steve would be willing to bet that he and Tony would bump heads.

Steve tells his favorite stories until well into the night and when a very drunk Natasha falls asleep on his shoulder, he doesn’t get up. He stays put, looking at the stars and wondering if they were the last things that Bucky saw before he fell. He’s nearly resigned himself to spending the night in the Tower when a new set of footsteps sounds behind him.

“Hey man,” Sam Wilson says, laying a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “You’ve been here long enough. It’s time to come back.”

“If you knew I was here, why didn’t you come sooner?” Steve asks, whispering so as not to wake Natasha.

“Because three’s a crowd and I knew that Tash had it handled. Besides, with her there’s always booze and I’m a lightweight. Don’t tell the others.” Steve laughs, the sound coming unexpectedly, and marvels at Sam’s uncanny ability to always know what to say. “I’ll get her back safe, you just get some shuteye, okay?” Steve nods and gets to his feet as Sam gathers Natasha in his arms. She’s small enough not to weigh much.

“If you tell anyone about this I’ll kick your ass,” she murmurs, still half-asleep.

“I’ll take it to my grave, Red,” Sam promises. “Wouldn’t dare to ruin the reputation of the terrifying Natasha Romanoff.” Tash mumbles something else, probably in Russian, but then she’s asleep again.

Back in the Gryffindor dormitory, Steve dreams of Bucky. It’s not shocking. When it happened, Bucky was in his dreams almost every night. They weren’t dreams so much as memories back then, reliving the best days – and nights – they had together. Eventually they started to fade and his sleep turned dreamless, but on the anniversary, Bucky is always there. Tonight, things are different. There are no favorite memories, or happy moments. Just Bucky, standing against a field of stark white. Bucky glaring at him, those blue eyes he loves so much narrowed with distrust.

“Why?” Bucky asks. Demands, more like.

“Why what Bucky?” Steve asks, his voice odd and distorted. It echoes strangely in his own ears.

“Why?” Bucky asks again. “Why? Why? _Why_?” His voice grows louder with each word and the white expanse behind him shatters. Suddenly Steve is back at the Astronomy Tower, staring at Bucky’s back and he knows what’s going to happen before it does.

“No!” Steve shouts. Despite seven years of magical training, it’s his Muggle instincts that kick in first and Steve lurches forward, his wand completely forgotten. Somehow, he manages to grab Bucky’s hand before he can fall and then he’s on his stomach, all of his strength concentrated on not letting him fall. “Bucky, hang on. Don’t you let go of me!”

“Why?” Bucky asks, his voice soft and sad, and his eyes swim with tears. A single tear falls to the ground below and with one final, mournful look, Bucky lets go of Steve’s hand and joins it.

Steve wakes up in a cold sweat, the bed sheets damn and tangled around his legs. Sam and Thor sleep on, undisturbed by his nightmare. Steve inhales deeply through his nose, trying to shake the dream, telling himself that it’s just the anniversary getting to him, but he doesn’t sleep any more that night. Every time he closes his eyes, he sees Bucky’s last look before the fall, and starts to ask the same question:

Why?


	2. SHIELD

Steve makes it to double-Charms on time the next morning and it turns out that Natasha was right: People are talking. Steve doesn’t mind, and Sam is getting a kick out of the whispers and not-so-subtle looks. He should have seen it coming; Steve knows that he’s got a reputation as a bit of a goody-goody, and he’s fine with it, honestly. Besides, when he does step out of line, no one believes it was him – usually Tony or Natasha get the blame, which is as good an insurance policy as any.

“What the flying hell did you do to Tasha last night? Because I think she might be dead.” Clint shouts the question at the top of his voice, sliding into the seat beside them like he always does when they have Charms together. Steve nearly jumps out of his seat at the volume and Sam has his wand out in an instant. The Hufflepuff blinks at the two of them before bursting into far-too-loud laughter. “Sorry!” he yells. “I ran out of potion and forgot to get more.”

“You need to get on that,” Steve says before remembering that Clint can’t hear him. Quickly, he scribbles the words onto a piece of parchment and slides they over. Clint nods, miming zipping his lips. Steve rolls his eyes; that’s not going to last long. He’s never met anyone who can talk like Clint.

_Please make some more of Clint’s hearing draught_ , Steve writes below the first message and taps the words with his wand. The black ink disappears into nothingness, off to reappear on the next thing Bruce Banner or Jane Foster see. Hopefully the two of them are together. They work faster that way. The Vanishing Ink spell is fairly simple – something Tony concocted so that they could all communicate in different classes. Professors tend to frown upon owls crashing their classes because a few students can’t wait to talk to one another.

To his credit, Clint makes it through nearly half of class before Professor Hill calls on him. Steve and Sam look on with amusement as Clint attempts to read her lips and then shouts what he thinks the answer is as loud as he possibly can. (His answer is “lemons.” Professor Hill was asking about the proper wand technique needed to produce the most euphoric Cheering Charm.) Clint cackles all the way out the door when he’s ejected and told not to come back until he can hear again. Steve laughs along with him, but it’s not really Clint’s fault. He was born hard of hearing and the magical solutions that were tried only made things worse. In the end, the solution was a potion to be drunk daily that would restore most of his hearing. Steve makes a mental note to have Natasha teach the basics of him sign language – she learned when she found out about Clint’s partial-deafness, just in case he ever did run out of potion, like today. He can reads lips pretty well, but signing is still the best way. They really all should know, just in case, Steve thinks idly as he scratches down notes. Bruce’s answer comes at about the time Clint gets kicked out of class:

_On it. Could hear his yelling from the dungeons_. Steve smirks.

_Imagine being right next to him. Remind me to have Tash teach me to sign._

_Good idea_ , Jane replies, her familiar scrawl appearing below Bruce’s tiny handwriting. _I’d like to learn as well. Will remind you._

The rest of the day passed without incident, and although Steve does notice that Natasha is nowhere to be found, the day after the anniversary is like any other. He keeps himself busy, making sure to start his homework as soon as class is out to prevent his mind from wandering back to the dream. Still, Bucky’s tear-stricken last look and his final question pulse in the back of Steve’s mind like living things, never completely forgotten despite his best efforts.

He’s absently sketching in the margins of his Potions homework when Thor comes up behind him.

“Steven!” Thor booms. Steve quickly turns to greet him, covering the drawing with his arm. “Come my friend, we have a meeting to attend.” Jesus is it eight already? Steve glances at his watch and sweeps the parchment off the table, taking the doodle of Bucky with it. “You have a talent,” Thor says casually, spotting the drawing before Steve has another chance to hide it.

“Thanks,” Steve says, trying to sound cavalier. Thor is new, and one of the very first transfer students the school has to offer. He and his little brother began their education in the Norwegian magical academy of Asgard and when they moved to England last year, they transferred to Hogwarts. Steve makes small talk about Quidditch practice – Thor is a Chaser on the Gryffindor team and ever since he tried out, their House has been dominating the matches. Sam’s their Seeker, and between the two of them, they’ve been trying all year to get Steve to try out. He’s a fair flier, but Steve prefers to cheer in the stands with the rest of Gryffindor.

They make it to the Room of Requirement just as the clock strikes eight to find the rest of the group already inside. Tony and Bruce are tinkering with something in the corner and don’t even notice their arrival. Hopefully making Clint’s potion, although Tony wouldn’t be much help with that. Stark is brilliant at Transfiguration and Charms, but he’s never been much of a Potions man. Then again, Stark’s ‘adequate’ is years away from some people’s ‘best.’

“Rough day Tash?” Steve says, seeing the redhead lying on the couch with her head in Clint’s lap. One hand is thrown over her eyes and she flinches at every _bong_ of the clock.

“I have never been this hung-over,” Natasha groans. “I think I might be dying.” She pauses, leaning up on her elbow to squint at them. “I think your brother might be feeling the same way.” The ghost of a smile turns her lips up in the corners. It’s not a nice smile and Steve is reminded once again of how lucky he is that Natasha is his friend instead of his enemy.

“Ah yes, I heard that Loki ran afoul of you this morning,” Thor says coolly. It’s no secret that the Odinson brothers don’t get along, although not for lack of trying on Thor’s part. Dark, sullen, and sporting a nasty chip on his shoulder from being the adopted second son, Loki was Sorted into Slytherin and has had more than one run-in with Natasha as a result. According to Thor, Loki used to be different. Happy and quick with a joke or a smile. Not anymore.

“That’s an understatement. Blondie, I know you asked me to asked me to look out for your shithead brother but sometimes he makes it very difficult.” Loki has made it very clear that he wants nothing to do with the elder Odinson brother, but Thor still tries to keep tabs, just in case. Unfortunately, his best option for doing so is through Natasha.

“My apologies. Loki is – ”

“An asshole?” Natasha supplies.

“I was going to say ‘troubled.’” Thor says. _That_ ’s the understatement, in Steve’s opinion, but he keeps it to himself. Thor’s a little touchy when it comes to his brother. Always wants to think the best of him and is always disappointed.

“Yeah well troubled was causing the trouble this morning.” Natasha says, sitting up and signing as she speaks so Clint can follow. “He was giving some firstie a hard time which was aggravating enough and when I told him to knock it off he said to shove it up my ass.” She smiles a little wider. “So I shoved it up his.”

“He’s been shitting snails all day,” Clint yells, and everyone jumps.

“Oh for the love of God,” Natasha complains, clapping her hands over her ears and signing furiously. Steve doesn’t know what they mean, but he can guess that more than a few are expletives, followed by the sign for “hangover.” “I sure as hell hope that’s ready boys,” she tosses over her shoulder to Tony and Bruce before a brusque: “ _Accio_.” The vial that has been simmering over the fire flies through the air, landing in Natasha’s hand before either of them can complain. “Drink this. Drink it now.” Clint does as he’s told without question and opens his mouth wide, popping his ears.

"Someone say something,” Clint says, in a normal tone of voice for the first time today.

“If you ever forget your potion again I think you’re going to end up in the lake,” Steve says, smirking. Clint looks delighted at his regained hearing and grins from ear to ear.

“Hey, you know, the giant squid needs love too. Bet nobody’s hugged him in ages.”

“You have fun with that,” Steve says, clapping him on the shoulder as Natasha settles back onto his lap. She and Thor discuss Loki a little bit more, but Steve moves away from the conversation. With Clint taken care of, he sort of ambles about the Room for a few moments. When they need it, it’s enormous. There’s plenty of room for Bruce and Tony to work, couches and chairs by the fire where Natasha and Clint are perched, and a large empty space beyond that for anything they might need. These meetings have been going on for over three months and he still feels a touch out of place. Not to mention the fact that none of them really know why their little club was set up in the first place. Professor Fury came to the six of them at the beginning of the term with an idea: Gather exceptional students together to protect the school from the inside in case anything should happen. Steve doesn’t know why it’s necessary – Hogwarts isn’t in danger and even if it was, the professors should be enough to keep the students safe. After all, they are some of the brightest minds in the Wizarding World today. Headmaster Pierce himself has been offered the Minister of Magic position half a dozen times, but refused each one because he feels teaching is more important. They call it SHIELD, this little club of theirs. Headmaster Pierce came up with the name. Students at Hogwarts Interested in Ensuring Long-lived Defense. SHIELD. It’s a little heavy-handed but the rest of them like the name so they keep it.

Each one of them was hand-picked by Professors Fury and Pierce, supposedly because they are exceptional. Some of the reasons are obvious: Bruce and Tony are geniuses. Thor’s got some kind of way with nonverbal magic that is beyond anything Steve has ever seen. Natasha is…well, Natasha and Clint can survive dating her so clearly he warrants keeping around. The only one who doesn’t fit is Steve. He’s a good student, gets high marks, but there’s nothing special about him besides the magic that saved his life when he was young and sick, but that was a long time ago and none of it affects his magical ability now. Just because he’s got a messed up metabolism and bulked up significantly doesn’t make him a better wizard. He’s brilliant at imbibing Muggle items with magic, but he suspects that’s more his Muggle upbringing than anything.

Still, he was chosen, and though they don’t do much by way of saving anybody, the six of them still meet every Tuesday at eight pm. They keep busy. Tony and Bruce have their experiments – they’re always tinkering with new spells or potions, and Tony’s JARVIS spell is so close to sentient it’s spooky. Thor entertains himself by messing with the magic that changes the weather above the Great Hall (Tony is infinitely jealous that he never thought of doing it), or plays with a spare Snitch he’s nicked from the locker rooms. Clint and Natasha do whatever it is that they do, which is often dueling and nearly always ends up with someone going to the Hospital Wing. Usually Clint, but sometimes one of the others. Steve’s got his projects. His mother has sent several items from home to Hogwarts already and he’s been trying to make them magical. Nothing flashy, but it’s surprisingly difficult to weave a spell into a Muggle object without seriously damaging it. Muggle items aren’t made to support magic, and it has to be done carefully. Once or twice Steve has thought about bringing an easel to the Room and painting the view from the window (which is always spectacular and always different) but he’s decided not to every time. He and Natasha are friends, sure, but the others are good acquaintances at most. They were thrown together by Fury and Pierce and not of their own volition, and Steve’s art is something he keeps close.

“Working on anything special?” Steve doesn’t jump at Banner’s voice suddenly behind him but it’s a close thing. Bruce is the quiet sort. Quiet and unassuming and brilliant. Not too many friends besides his Housemate Tony, but that’s probably by design.

Steve doesn’t jump at his voice but he does startle a little when he sees Bruce’s eyes. They’re the flat gold of Galleons with pinprick pupils and a luminous sheen that reflects the firelight.

“Sorry,” Bruce says, casting his eyes downward, though Steve is the one who should be apologizing. He forgot that tonight is the full moon, though now that he’s paying attention he can see it clearly shining through the window. He’s known about Bruce’s condition for years – the whole school knows about it. When you’ve got a werewolf studying with regular students, there tends to be a little bit of fuss from parents. But potion-making has come a long way in the last few decades and Bruce’s transformation is almost completely curbed by the draught he takes once a month. “Unlike our deaf friend, I didn’t forget to take my medicine. Still working on it though.” Bruce has been looking for a cure – a real cure, not just a Band-Aid solution – for years. He’s made progress as far as Steve can tell, but none of the potions have been able to take away the signature werewolf eyes that make an appearance once a month.

“How are you feeling?” Steve asks, trying to stifle the awkwardness and rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.

“I think I should be asking you that.” Bruce says quietly. “Yesterday was the anniversary, wasn’t it? You doing alright?”

“Well I’m doing better than Natasha, I’ll say that much.” Steve says, smiling despite the twisting he feels in his gut. It’s a familiar feeling, once that rears whenever someone mentions Bucky out of the blue, although he’s been a little more sensitive the last few days than usual. “I’ll be okay.”

“If you need a distraction, Tony is trying to teach JARVIS to do tricks.” JARVIS, the personal assistant charm that Tony created before he even received his Hogwarts letter. It stands for ‘Just A Rather Very Intelligent Spell’. Tony likes acronyms as much as Pierce and Fury do, although JARVIS feels more truthful than SHIELD most days. Steve has no idea how he did it, but somehow Tony managed to make a spell that can speak. It’s more of a butler than anything, but still incredible. And terrifying. But what can you expect from a magical prodigy? Tony Stark has been doing magic since before Steve had ever heard the words Abra Kadabra, and if the rumors are true, was outdoing magical tutors for nearly as long. “And if that doesn’t make you feel better, I can always dilute the potion and…chase my tail or something.”

“I think I’ll pass,” Steve says, smiling more genuinely this time. Banner’s jokes always take him by surprise. “Thank you though.”

“Any time.” Bruce says before going back to his workstation. Steve sits back in his chair, taking in the room for a moment. Bruce and Tony work over boiling cauldrons and simmering potions while JARVIS shimmers, disembodied but present in the air above them. Clint is winding his fingers through Natasha’s long hair and holding her hand with the other, while they and Thor talk softly, all sitting on the plush couches and just relaxing. Despite himself, Steve finds his heart lifting as he watches them. They may not exactly be protectors of the school, but as far as friends go? He could do worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a lot of exposition in this chapter but I have to set the scene before things start to get interesting! Hope you like the backstories, I worked really hard on them. As always, kudos make my day but reviews fill my heart with gladness


	3. Armor and Werewolves

The SHIELD meetings could never be called peaceful, what with Tony and Bruce’s experiments occasionally exploding, Thor calling down lightning to scare anyone who wasn’t paying attention, and Clint and Natasha’s terrifying play-duels, but tonight there is an overarching sense of calm.

That calm lasts precisely three seconds longer before an enormous _boom_ shakes the walls. Steve lurches to his feet and he can see Clint and Natasha whip their wands out and fall lightly into attack stances. Sometimes those two really concern him.

“It wasn’t us!” Tony says almost immediately, throwing his hands up. Steve fights the urge to roll his eyes.

“If I may interject,” JARVIS’ overly-polite voice chimes in, and the spell shimmers in the center of the room. For the thousandth time Steve marvels at Tony’s abilities and is also silently grateful that the spell can physically manifest itself now. The disembodied voice interjecting into conversations out of the blue used to scare him half to death. At least now he can see where it’s coming from. “It appears that there is a disturbance in the north side of the castle, fifth floor, near the staircase.”

“Is it the poltergeist?” Thor asks.

“Not that I can tell,” JARVIS replies primly. The fact that the spell refers to itself in the first person is creepy. Beyond creepy.

Everyone jumps when another bang rattles the door, but it’s just someone knocking.

“Steve! Get your super-secret boyband out here!” Sam shouts from outside. Technically, the SHIELD meetings aren’t a secret, but Professor Fury did urge them to use discretion. Still, Sam noticed when his two roommates disappeared every Tuesday, and so Steve had come clean. And he knows for a fact that Tony told Pepper and Rhodey, and Thor couldn’t keep a secret from Jane if his life depended on it, so Steve doesn’t feel too badly about letting it slip. Natasha and Clint kind of exist in their own little world, so there’s nothing to worry about there. “You guys need to see this.” Sam says when Steve opens the door. “Something happened to the suits of armor on the fifth floor. They’ve gone absolutely crazy.”

“Where are the professors?” Steve asks.

“No clue,” Sam replies tightly. “Last I heard they were trying to get kids to their dormitories, but there are at least two dozen first and second years trapped up there.” Steve snaps to attention.

“Let’s get the out then,” Steve says.

“What?” Tony asks, raising a dark eyebrow. “Did you not hear what he said about crazy suits of armor on the loose?”

Steve ignores him. “You all go up to the fifth floor with Sam, I’ll go around the other way, see if I can find anyone who can help, and then swing around and give you guys backup.”

“We’re coming with you,” Natasha says, not grabbing Clint’s hand, but Bruce’s. “Come on nerd.”

“What the hell are we supposed to do when we get there?” Clint asks. “We’re students.”

“I’m with Clint,” Tony says.

“You and Thor are going to try to get the kids out of there.” Steve says, answering Clint. “Sam, watch their backs, and Tony, try to find the spell that’s animating the suits and break it. Look, I know we’re just students, but we’re calling ourselves SHIELD. Might as well live up to the name.”

“Nice speech,” Sam says, half-joking. “Come on you three, we’re wasting time.”

“Don’t get stabbed again,” Natasha adds, kissing Clint quickly before starting off down the hall. “You two coming?” she tosses over her shoulder and Steve and Bruce have no choice but to try and keep up with her.

They don’t encounter anyone on their way up to the fith floor – Sam was right about everyone being corralled into the dorms. Beside him, Natasha thrums with excited energy and Bruce seems to shrink in on himself, his gold eyes somehow glowing brighter. Steve’s going to have to keep an eye on him.

“Let’s head back,” Natasha says when it’s clear that they’re not going to find help by way of the faculty. Hopefully they’re already on the scene. “See if they found the trouble.”

 “Guys,” Bruce says, his voice tight. “I think trouble just found us.” Steve turns to see five suits of armor have abandoned their places on the wall and are advancing on them, swords held high.

“Tash…” Steve says but she’s already moving, positioning herself in front of the two of them, wand out and ready. She disables one of the suits without a problem, but the other four are moving quickly.

“Rogers,” Natasha says, a touch of her Russian accent slipping like it always does when she’s stressed. She leaps away from one suit’s sword as she blasts another with a tongue of fire from her wand. “A shield charm would be really great right about now.”

 “Give me – ” Steve says, ducking as a sword whistles inches away from the top of his head – “A second!” There isn’t time to cast both attack and protection spells at the same time and right now, Steve is on the offensive. The best defense is a good offense, right? Besides, if he’s on the attack, they won’t have a chance to back him into a corner. Steve manages to take one of the suits apart before he realizes that he’s lost track of Bruce. Banner is brilliant and has a lot of skills, but dueling is not one of them. Tash and Clint tried to teach him once and it was just a disaster. Taking half a second to take stock, Steve realizes that there’s only one suit left standing, and only three in pieces on the floor. Which means –

A piercing howl rends the air, sending a chill running down Steve’s spine. Steve swears colorfully, whirling to see something enormous and hairy tearing the rogue suit apart, limb from limb. Steve has to fight to keep the panic clawing at his insides from overwhelming him. It doesn’t make sense; Bruce took his potion. He hasn’t had an incident in years. Steve almost doesn’t believe it, but when Natasha screams as a hundred pounds of furious werewolf leaps at her, he has no choice. Without thinking, Steve throws himself at Tash, knocking her out of the way, but the wolf-Banner isn’t interested in them – yet. He’s too busy dismembering the last suit of armor standing.    

“He Turned,” Natasha says softly, her voice low and trembling. “I thought…I thought he could control it.” Steve doesn’t have a chance to answer, because Banner has finished with the suit and turns his attention on them.

“Bruce…” Steve says warily. Wrong move. The wolf’s eyes flare and he roars at them before charging. “ _Protego_!” Steve shouts, and white energy erupts from his wand, creating a barrier between them and Banner, and effectively trapping them against the wall. Wolf-Banner howls his rage and claws at the spell, trying to rip it apart. Natasha tenses beside him and Steve knows what she’s going to do a split-second before she does it. “Don’t!” Steve says urgently, but it’s too late, Natasha is already moving. Steve can only watch in open-mouthed horror as she leaps out of the protection he’s creating, slashing her wand to keep Banner away before he can bite her.

“Get it together,” Natasha says, her voice remarkably even despite the fact that her face has completely drained of color. “Listen to my voice and come back.” She’s insane, he thinks. But the wolf pauses. For a moment, Steve thinks that she’s gotten through, but then Banner charges without so much as a snarl. Natasha and Steve both cast charms, but the wolf gets there first. Natasha screams as Banner’s claws tear through her skin, leaving a gory mess of blood and flesh where her stomach should be. Steve’s already moving, tackling the wolf like a Muggle linebacker. Somehow, he manages to wrap his arms around Banner’s neck and hold on as the wolf howls and tries desperately to buck him off.

“Look!” Steve shouts in his ear. “Look at her. That’s Natasha! That is your friend, and if you can hear me, you need to _calm down_.” Steve has no idea if the transformation has anything to do with his emotional state, he has no idea if Bruce _can_ even turn back at this point, but he’s out of options. If there’s any chance to get Bruce to change back into himself, it needs to happen now because Natasha’s blood is slowly spilling onto the cold stone.

A violent shudder travels through the wolf’s entire body and Steve lets go just in time for the fur to disappear, leaving a pale and horrified Bruce behind. His clothes are still intact and Steve once again thanks God for magic. The only thing remaining of the wolf are the glowing gold eyes.

“I…” Bruce stammers, looking green. “I…”

“Help me,” Steve says, cutting him off. “She needs to get to the hospital wing. Now.” Bruce nods, swallowing the words that had refused to come and the two of them carefully pick Natasha off of the ground. She hisses in pain but doesn’t say a word, her green eyes bright against her shockingly-pale skin.

“You’re going to be okay,” Bruce tells her, not looking her in the face. He says it nearly a dozen times as they haul her to the hospital, like a mantra. “You’re going to be okay Natasha.”

“What the bloody hell happened?” Madame Simmons demands, conjuring a stretcher when Steve yells for her help. He and Bruce carefully lower Natasha onto it. “No students are supposed to be out!”

“We were trying to get back to the dormitories and one of the suits of armor attacked us,” Steve lies effortlessly.

“ _Bloody hell_ ,” Madame Simmons swears again. “Armor running amok and attacking students. Leave her to me, I’ll take care of her.” She casts a complicated spell and the bleeding already starts to slow. Steve lets out a relieved breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding.

“She’s going to get you all patched up Tash,” Steve says, squeezing her hand. Natasha’s eyelids droop, the spell taking its toll on her. Even so, she isn’t looking at him.

“Not…” she whispers, poking Bruce with a finger. “Not your fault.” Bruce’s eyebrows furrow and he looks away from her, not replying. It doesn’t matter; Natasha loses the battle with consciousness and her eyes flutter closed.

“Get out, both of you,” Madame Simmons says, shooing them away. “She’ll be fine, but you were lucky. A few more minutes and the school might have lost a bright young pupil.” If anything, the anguish on Bruce’s face worsens and he seems to want to disappear.

Neither Bruce nor Steve go back to their dormitories that night, choosing to camp outside of the hospital wing instead. No one disturbs them and no one else is admitted – Natasha is the only casualty of the haywire armor. Steve tries to talk to Bruce more than once, but he isn’t interested in speaking. Steve doesn’t blame him. He’s still partly in shock, half-disbelieving that it happened at all. When Bruce was picked for SHIELD, Steve did a fair bit of research on lycanthropy – everyone knew that the quiet Ravenclaw that hung around with Tony Stark was a werewolf, but he hadn’t Shifted in all the years they’d gone to school together. That he knows of, at least. Bruce doesn’t talk all that much about his condition, but everyone – Steve included – thought that the potion helped him keep it under control. But to just change like that? It’s the full moon, but there have been lots of full moons. There’s something that Banner hasn’t told anyone and it almost got Natasha killed tonight.

Clint and the others show up in the morning.

“What the hell happened?” he demands, any trace of the fun-loving Hufflepuff gone completely.

“There were five of them,” Steve says. “And Natasha got hurt.” He doesn’t look at Banner, but Steve prays that he doesn’t seem as guilty as he is.

“You’re saying that Natasha let one of them stab her?” Tony clarifies, looking suspiciously at the two of them. Steve can practically see the gears turning in his head, trying to make sense of it. Natasha is the best fighter the school has ever seen – she has been since their very first year when she out-dueled seventh years. Steve has to admit that it doesn’t make a lot of sense that she would be taken out by a magicked suit of armor. A werewolf, on the other hand, is a completely different story. One that ends in blood.

“She was trying to protect me,” Bruce adds softly. “One of them was coming at me and she got in the way, and it hit her. I’m sorry Clint.” His apology radiates so much horror and guilt that Steve almost winces. Whatever his secret is, now that it’s hurt Tash, it’s eating him alive.

“S’okay man,” Clint says, laying his hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “She’s gonna be alright and no one else got hurt.”

“And Natasha will be a hero!” Thor booms jovially. Steve, for all his exhaustion, can’t help but smile. Thor’s got a way of putting a positive spin on everything, and he tells stories like no other. Steve sits back, trying to smile and be engaged as Thor details their own battle with the suits. Despite his best intentions, he quickly falls asleep, the events of the night finally catching up to him. He’s finally woken a few hours later by Clint shaking him awake.

“Hey, she’s up,” he says, looking relieved. Steve scrubs the sleep from his eyes, feeling the tightness in his chest abating somewhat. Of course she is. Madame Simmons is a brilliant witch and Natasha’s not going to let a little disembowelment get her. “You wanna go see her?”

“Yeah, absolutely,” Steve says, hauling himself out of his chair and wincing. Note to self: Sleep in a bed next time.

“Take Banner with you,” Clint suggests, raising his eyebrows. Steve’s heart stops for a second. “Honestly, I can’t deal with the kicked puppy thing a minute longer. Tash made a decision and she got hurt. That’s not on him. Make sure she tells him that, okay?”

“Will do. Bruce, come on.” Steve says quickly, and they both push past Clint into Natasha’s room. For someone who painted the castle with her blood only ten hours earlier, she’s looking pretty good.

“Close the door,” Natasha says and waits for Steve to do so before turning to Bruce. “Banner. We need to have a talk about your furry little problem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always I hope you liked this chapter, and thank you all so much for your feedback! don't forget to leave kudos and comments! <3


	4. After

Bruce takes a deep, fortifying breath, as if he’s steeling himself for something, but Natasha cuts him off before he has a chance to get the words out.

“I thought you were keeping your temper under control,” she says without preamble. “I thought you had it handled.”

“Yeah you were – what?” Steve asks, whirling on her. Bruce is looking at Natasha with a mix of awe, guilt, and fear, so clearly he had no idea that his secret wasn’t so secret. “You _knew_ that this could happen?” Natasha rolls her eyes.

“Your surprise is hurtful,” she says, waving him off. “Why do you think I took Banner with us?”

“How…how long?” Bruce manages, sounding sick.

“Since fourth year. Rumlow set off some Exploding Snaps when you weren’t looking and it freaked you out. You managed to get to the dungeons without hurting anyone and I locked you in.”

“That was you?” Bruce says, his mouth dropping open.

“Did you think that the doors just locked themselves?” Natasha asks, her full lips twisting into a frown. “Come on.”

“Merlin’s beard Natasha, you could have been hurt, I could have – ”

“But you didn’t.”

“I did this time.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over that,” Natasha says. “Hey. Look at me. I mean it, it’s not your fault.”

“Not my…Natasha I almost killed you!”

 “I’m sorry,” Steve cuts in, throwing his hands up. “Guilt and Natasha being unkillable aside, can someone explain to me exactly how it’s possible that you Turned last night? I thought your potion kept it under control during the full moon.” Besides the fact that what Bruce had turned into was unlike any werewolf depiction that Steve has ever seen. He looked, for all intents and purposes, like a real wolf, just massive. Traditional werewolves usually stand partially upright, and are more emaciated than the hulking beast that nearly tore out Natasha’s insides.

“It does, but my case is different,” Bruce says, sighing. “What a lot of wizards don’t know is that lycanthropes aren’t always made. Sometimes they’re born.”

“People who inherit the disease,” Steve fills in. Bruce shakes his head.

“Not exactly. Some wizards are also werewolves, but there are werewolves that are just werewolves. They’re not victims of the disease, they’re not infected, they just _are_.”

“Every charm’s a spell but not every spell’s a charm,” Natasha says, mostly to herself. “Wizards can be werewolves but not all werewolves are wizards. I thought they were extinct, or at least they’ve almost completely died out back – ” She clamps her jaw shut and Steve knows that she was about to say ‘home.’ Natasha doesn’t talk about where she came from. In fact, she’s never spoken about it. Ever. And she expertly fields any kind of personal questions, which are few and far between considering that more than half of the school is terrified of her. Steve shakes his head; he really shouldn’t be surprised that she knows this stuff at this point. Then again, it’s not like his Muggle upbringing lent itself to an extensive knowledge of nearly extinct magical creatures.

“Exactly. There aren’t many packs left out there – you’re right, they’re almost completely gone – but…” Bruce swallows hard and Steve lays his hand on his shoulder. “My family was camping in the Forest of Dean, along with my friend Betty and we, Betty and I, we wandered off. We were both young and just bursting with magic, and Betty accidentally created this crowd of luminous butterflies.” Bruce makes a small choking sound and Steve’s stomach sinks. Suddenly he thinks he knows where this story is going. “We followed them away from the campsite, away from the protective charms and there…there was a pack out hunting. Not us, we just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but uh, Betty didn’t make it. And I turned into this.” He gestures to the bandages wrapping Natasha’s stomach. “Apparently, born werewolf bites are different. My potion keeps it under control for the most part, but when my heart rate spikes…”

“Hello Fluffy,” Natasha says wryly. “Well that is going to put a damper on your sex life.” Steve laughs before he can help himself, a single burst before he claps his hand over his mouth. Bruce’s mouth drops open and his cheeks flush.

“This is serious!” Bruce says, raising his voice for the first time. Steve tenses, feeling his wand burning a hole in his back pocket as the thought of Bruce losing control in the hospital wing flashes to the forefront of his mind. But the Ravenclaw just drags his fingers through his dark hair, pulling anxiously on a curl. “Natasha, I almost ripped you in half.”

“Don’t be so dramatic. It was a flesh wound. And you did a hell of a lot more damage to those suits of armor than you did me.” Bruce looks like he’s about to say something else but Steve cuts him off.

“She’s right. If you hadn’t…done what you did, we could be way worse off.” Steve amends when he sees the agonized look on Bruce’s face.

“The others can’t know about this,” Bruce says, looking down at his shoes. “It’s bad enough being a werewolf without everyone tiptoeing around me like I’m some kind of walking Howler.” Steve worries his bottom lip, thinking of all the high-tension situations that Bruce might be exposed to during their SHIELD meetings. Tony on his own is enough to stress anyone out, and they manage to blow something up nearly every week. Then again, it had taken berserk suits of armor to set him off for the first time in years.“We won’t say anything,” Natasha says before Steve finishes turning it over in his head.

“Shall I come back?” Steve and Bruce whip around in unison to see Headmaster Pierce standing in the door.

“Professor,” Steve says, trying not to look suspicious but he really is a shit liar. Thankfully, Pierce doesn’t let him flounder.

“I was just stopping in to see how Miss Romanoff is healing,” Pierce says, adjusting the square glasses that sit on the bridge of his nose. “You all – including your friends, who I have already spoken to – did the school a great service. This is exactly what I wanted SHIELD to be when I put you all together.” Pierce frowns, his eyes flicking to the bed-ridden Natasha. “Although I didn’t foresee that there would be any kinds of problems so soon. Or that anyone would get hurt.”

“Madame Simmons says I’ll be on my feet by tonight,” Natasha says, shrugging.

"Excellent, excellent. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to debrief the three of you now," Pierce says. "I've already spoken to the others about their involvement. Obviously the faculty is looking into how this attack happened and who is responsible, but until then, we'd like to get the whole story." Steve nods, making quick eye contact with Natasha before launching into it. Most of it is true - how Sam crashed their SHIELD meeting, taking Natasha and Bruce the back way to the fifth floor and looking for help before getting ambushed. Natasha adds bits and pieces, taking over the narrative completely when it comes to how she got injured.

"I’d just dismantled two of them, and Steve was handling another two, when one of them rounded on Bruce. I jumped in front of it and it managed to stab me." Natasha makes a face, as if she's insulted by the memory and Steve is reminded of what a talented liar she is. It's only mildly concerning.

"We got her here," Steve says, picking it back up, "and that's the end of it."

"What of the last suit of armor?" Pierce asks.

"I destroyed it when it attached Natasha," Steve says, hoping the lie doesn't sound as obvious as it feels. He holds his breath, but Pierce only nods.

"Mr. Banner, you've been awfully quiet," the headmaster says after a moment.

"I didn't do much," Bruce says in that self-depreciating way he has. "I'm no good at attack magic and I was already feeling the effects of the full moon." He paused, swallowing hard. "I should've done something to help."

"There was nothing you could have done," Professor Pierce says kindly, putting a hand on Bruce's shoulder. Natasha shoots him a meaningful look that says ‘ _told you.’_ "I must say, the three of you preformed admirably, and while I daresay I hope there are no more disturbances, I think that I made the right choices for the school’s SHIELD." He smiles broadly at then before ducking out of the room. Bruce curses under his breath.

"The right choices," he mumbles. "The right choices nearly got you killed." Natasha rolls her eyes and starts to disagree with him - again - but Bruce is gone, nearly sprinting out of the hospital room.

"We're going to have to keep an eye on him," Steve says softly.

"No shit.”

* * *

 

Everything manages to settle down within the next few days. Professor Pierce wanted to keep everything under wraps, which of course means that the whole school is talking. A group of seventh years rescuing firsties from magicked armor? It's the most exciting thing to happen all term. Thankfully, Tony and Thor soak up the majority of the attention, allowing Steve and the rest to fly a little under the radar. They still get awed looks in the halls, and there's a few fourth year girls who have been following him around, but the school manages to get back to normal fairly quickly. They're still looking for whoever enchanted the armor - Tony and JARVIS have been trying to pick apart the spell despite the faculty telling them to leave it alone - but nothing has come up yet.

The one thing that has changed dramatically is attendance at Sam's club. In his third year, Sam noticed that there were more and more first years coming into Hogwarts with debilitating fears of magic. Whether they be purebloods or half-bloods who saw magical accidents, or Muggleborns who were simply having a hard time coming to grips with their own gifts, there was a definite trend. So, with Professor Pierce's permission, Sam began holding meeting for new students who have a hard time adjusting to life at Hogwarts. At first, attendance with low, if anyone showed up at all, but once word got out, all of the new kids who felt out of place started showing up. Steve sits in on meetings sometimes - he went almost every week when Bucky died. Sam is good, teaching the first years the most basic of spells and proving that magic can be managed – can be beautiful if you're not afraid.

"You mind coming tonight?" Sam asks at lunch a week or so after. "I hear attendance is going to be high tonight and I think it'll be good for them to see that there are kids that can protect the school."

"There's faculty for that," Steve says, feeling a blush creeping into his cheeks. He's never been good at dealing with attention like that. Being paraded around like some kind of sideshow isn't his style, and he got enough of it when he suddenly became St. Mungo’s poster boy for experimental magic remedies. "Ask Tony or Thor, they'd love it." Sam fixes him with an even look.

"Tony's preening wouldn't help them feel better and JARVIS still freaks _me_ out. And Thor might decide that calling down lightning would be a great icebreaker and then they'd be even more traumatized. C’mon Steve, you know you're the best for this."

"Fine," Steve grumbles. "But Bruce is coming with me. He needs a win, and maybe he can whip up a potion for demonstration." Plus, Steve knows that part of first-year fear is knowing that there's a werewolf roaming the halls. It would do everyone some good to put a face to the wolf and see that he's harmless. Well, Steve corrects himself, thinking of Natasha's mangled stomach, mostly harmless.

"Deal," Sam says, sticking out his hand.

"What's a deal?" Tony asks as they shake, swinging over from Ravenclaw table with Pepper in tow. Despite the fact that she’s a Gryffindor, she usually sits with the Ravenclaws and Tony.

"Steve said he'd come to my meeting tonight," Sam explains. "Hey Pep."

"That's a good idea," Pepper says. "I'm surprised you haven't been going more often. You're great with the first years Steve."

"Wait you asked him and didn't ask me?" Tony cuts in, pouting. Pepper rolls her eyes. "I'm hurt, Wilson. You wound me."

"Shockingly, I don't think you showing JARVIS off or doing a complicated spell will make anyone feel better," Pepper says, the voice of reason. Tony's pout deepens but he doesn't argue with her. In all seven years, Steve has never seen Tony listen to anyone but Pepper. It's miraculous, really. Rhodey comes close, but they're too good of friends for Tony to ever make anything easy. But together, Pepper and Rhodes have managed to turn Tony from an irascible magical genius to a halfway decent human being, if a bit of a show pony.

"Hey, if you can get Natasha to come, you can show off all you want," Sam says, grinning. Steve snorts into his soup as Tony leaps to his feet.

"Challenge accepted!" he declares. "Now where is that terrifying redhead?" Without waiting for anyone to answer, Tony takes off, running out of the Great Hall.

"The man I have chosen to love," Pepper says, sighing after him and looking bereaved. "I'm going to find him in the lake, aren't I?"

"Probably." Sam agrees, looking supremely pleased with himself. "Tash is probably in the dungeons if you want to warn her." Pepper paused before her lips turn up into a small smile.

"I think I'll see how this one plays out," she says, and Steve and Sam snicker to themselves. For all her poise and composure, there's a reason Pepper Potts has been able to keep up with Tony all these years: she's a genius too, and more importantly, an evil one. "I need something to keep me entertained." She sashays away and Sam and Steve burst into another round of laughter.

"Remind me to stay on her good side," Sam says when they can finally speak again. "Merlin’s beard, sometimes I forget why she and Tasha have been friends for so long. And then I worry about Jane.”

“Why do you worry about Jane Foster?” Thor asks, coming to sit across them. Steve can practically see his ears perk up the way they always do when someone mentions Jane. Most of his friends are in relationships, but Steve has never met someone as obviously in love as Thor. The way he talks about Jane, you’d think that she hung the moon.

“Because keeping up with Pepper and Tash is a full-time job and they’re both a little nuts,” Sam explains. Thor smiles, his whole face lighting up.

“They are good friends,” Thor says. “They do not have to be the same.” He pauses and his smile turns more into a smirk. “And I do believe that Jane can more than hold her own.”

“Hey, no arguments here,” Steve says. Jane is brilliant, one of the smartest people he knows, and she’s quiet and thoughtful in a way that most of SHIELD isn’t. Which isn’t to say that she doesn’t have a rebellious streak a mile wide. Thor has more than once recruited Steve for rescue missions into the Forbidden Forest because Jane insists on learning Astronomy from the centaurs. Then again, it’s not like she needed rescuing to begin with – apparently Jane is the first wizard in a thousand years to be welcomed by the herd, something that she is immensely proud of and very nearly got all three of them expelled.  

“Meeting’s at seven,” Sam says a bit later, shouldering his bag. He and Thor have practice. “Don’t be late, and if you don’t show up I’m sending Clint to find you.”

“Yeah yeah,” Steve says, waving him off. “Go play with your balls.”

“Jackass,” Sam says, smacking him.

“On your left,” Steve warns, lightly punching Sam in the stomach.

“As much as I would enjoy a brawl, we must go my friend,” Thor says, all but picking Sam off of the ground to keep him from launching himself at Steve. “Odin’s beard, you two fight like bilgesnipe.” Steve and Sam share a look. “Bilgesnipe? Do you not have those here?”

“Not so much.” Thor shakes his head.

“This Kingdom is a strange place.”

“Yeah whatever you say _bilgesnipe_ ,” Sam says, laughing. Without a moment’s hesitation, Thor launches into an explanation of the bilgesnipe’s history as they walk out of the Great Hall. Steve grins as Sam mouths _help me_ over Thor’s shoulder.

Sam was right about attendance being high; there have to be over two dozen kids in the empty classroom when Steve walks in five minutes before seven. They all look at him with wide eyes the moment he walks in the door and Steve can’t help but wonder how Sam can stand doing this every year. Hell, every week. Bruce shuffles in behind him, awkwardly positioning himself behind Steve but still, the classroom bursts into whispers.

“This is a bad idea,” Bruce mutters under his breath.

“They’re freaked out,” Steve mumbles back.

“Yeah and having a werewolf in the same room is going to help?” Steve doesn’t get a chance to answer because Sam strides into the room a moment later, all smiles. Within minutes, he cuts the tension in half, calmly introducing himself, Steve, and Bruce, and having them say a little something about themselves. Bruce stammers his way through, and Sam easily picks up the slack, explaining that even though Bruce was bitted by a werewolf, there’s potions he takes to help him stay safe.

“There’s a lot of stigmas that go along with lycanthropy,” Sam says, slinging an arm around Bruce’s shoulders. “But this guy happens to be one of the smartest people that goes to this school – and that includes Tony Stark – ” Even Bruce can’t help but smiling at that. “He just happens to get a little twitchy once a month. Ladies, you relate, right?” The girls giggle self-consciously, and some hide their faces behind their hands. Sam’s amazing at this, he really is. “Speaking of being smart, Brucie, I think you’ve got a demo for us?” Bruce nods and starts laying out ingredients to make a simple potion that makes fireworks when it’s done. It’s too complicated for any first-year, but nearly every one of them is smiling by the time he’s done.

“If any of you need a Potions tutor, I’d be happy to help,” Bruce adds at the end of the demonstration.

“And on that note, our time is gone,” Sam says. “Thank you guys for coming, and if any of you want to come back next week, it’s the same time, same place.”

“Ravenclaws can come with me back to the dormitory,” Bruce offers softly, and a handful of first years follow him out the door.

“Puffs, you’re with me,” Clint says, kicking the door open with a _bang_ that makes Steve jump. Clint grins and claps him on the shoulder. “Tash and I got called in for chaperone duty. Something about it being good for her image?” A very disgruntled-looking Natasha trails behind him, scowling. “Guys, this is Nat.”

“Slytherins with me,” Natasha says grumpily.

“Is it true that you were in the hospital wing after the suits attacked?” a tiny girl with dark hair asks, looking up at Natasha with huge eyes.

“Yeah, but not before I ripped three of them apart,” Natasha replies, folding her arms across her chest.

“Can you show me how?” Natasha blinks at the girl, momentarily at a loss.

“Hell yeah she can!” Clint says excitedly. “Come on kiddies, let’s go blow some shit up! Who the fuck needs curfews anyway?” Some mouths drop open at his language, but Steve can’t help but laugh.

Bruce is smiling again, Natasha’s okay, and some of these first years look like their fear of magic has been alleviated. He leans against the stone wall as Natasha shows the spell she used to take apart the suits of armor, making sure to add that it’s way too advanced for first-years. Steve doesn’t mention that her caliber of attack magic is too hard for most seventh-years. The kids _ooh_ and _aww_ appreciatively as Natasha’s spell explodes in midair and Steve swears that she’s pleased as she leads the Slytherins away to their dorm. Maybe, he thinks, everything is going to be okay.

He’s wrong, of course, but he doesn't know it yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little longer this time! As always, kudos are wonderful, but comments are what keep me going <3


	5. Missing

The next morning, Steve nearly jumps out of his skin when he finds someone waiting for him outside the bathroom. A very tiny and very female someone.

“Merlin’s – ” Steve swears before stopping himself short. “Darcy, it’s too early for this.” Darcy Lewis is a Hufflepuff, one year his junior. Also a professional troublemaker and Jane’s best friend. “How did you even get in here?” He knows she’s not going to answer and he probably doesn’t want to know anyway – Darcy knows the school’s secret passageways better than anyone. Steve has no idea how she does it, but can get from one end of the castle to the other in minutes. If he didn’t know better, he’d think that she Apparates. Which, obviously, is impossible, although there was a rumor that she’d broken the enchantment last year.

“I lost Jane,” Darcy says without any of the one-liners Steve has come to expect from her. “Steve. I lost Jane and I can’t tell Thor because I _lost Jane_.”

“What do you mean you lost Jane?” Steve asks, rubbing the back of his hand over his eyes. It’s too early for this.

“It was my turn to watch her!”

“You realize that she’s a person, not a Pygmy Puff.” Darcy makes an irritated noise and blows out her cheeks in frustration.

“She had a new project, and you know how she gets.” He does. Jane is a pit-bull when she’s onto something, sometimes not leaving her cauldron for days at a time. “We got worried, so we decided to take turns checking in on her. And it’s my turn to watch her because Thor’s at practice and I accidentally fell asleep because it’s early as fuck and also a Saturday – and why the hell does the Quidditch team practice on Saturdays anyway? Saturday is for sleeping – whatever, off-topic. The point is that can’t find her.”

“Did you look in the library?” Steve asks, trying to keep up with how fast she’s talking. Darcy rolls her eyes.

“Yes. And the dungeons, and your little SHIELD hangout spot, _and_ the Ravenclaw dorm. She’s not anywhere Steve; I mean it, I lost Jane.” Darcy runs her fingers through her hair, his cheeks coloring with distress. “I mean, she’s a person. A whole person that I lost. How did I lose an entire person?”

“Okay,” Steve says, “so go get Thor, and we’ll find her.”

“But if Thor finds out then he’s going to get all worried – ”

“You’re worried now,” Steve points out but Darcy ignores him.

“Yeah, but _I’m_ the idiot who lost my best friend and if I tell Thor, then he’s going to be all disappointed and sad-eyed and I honestly don’t think I can deal with him turning into a golden retriever on me this early in the morning.” Steve wants to comment that she’s turned into an over-caffeinated Chihuahua on _him_ this early in the morning, but he keeps it to himself.

“Fair point,” Steve says. Thor’s a touch irrational when it comes to Jane and her safety. “Just let me put on a shirt, and we’ll go.” Darcy nods, looking relieved, before pausing, eying his chest.

“You’re set on the whole shirt thing?” Now it’s Steve’s turn to roll his eyes. “Come on, you can’t blame a girl for trying.”

Darcy isn’t wrong. Jane isn’t anywhere to be found, and she’s not answering her messages. They even make a run up to the owlery, but there’s no sign of her there.

"Son of Morgana, where is she?" Darcy swears. "We've looked everywhere!"

"Not everywhere," Steve says, his eyes flicking to the window. Darcy follows his gaze and shudders.

"I hate the Forest," she complains. "When we find her, I'm putting her on a leash, you just watch me." Steve grins. Darcy isn’t afraid of much, but she’s made it very clear that the Forest is out of bounds – especially since, technically, it _is_ out of bounds. But that’s never stopped any of them before. Steve doesn’t know if it’s the dark or the creatures within that scare her, but Darcy sticks to him like a bur as they step into the maze of trees. Overhead, leaves and branches quickly turn the bright morning into pitch darkness. It's always amazed Steve how effectively the foliage blocks out the sun, as if the forest wants to seem as ominous as possible.

They barely make it past the river when hooves sound behind them. Darcy swears, her wand at the ready and Steve feels a pit gather in his stomach. The centaurs may have accepted Jane, but they're still less than friendly – in fact, they’re outright hostile – and the two of them are trespassing. 

"Humans!" a deep voice thunders and Darcy sucks in a quick breath. 

"Shit," she whispers, clenching and unclenching her fingers around her wand. Steve can feel his heart hammering in his chest, but he tries to keep his face expressionless.

"You are not welcome here," one of the centaurs declares. He's enormous, easily taller than Steve, and his front hoof paws at the ground. He’s agitated, and as Steve eyes down the rest of the herd, it’s clear that they all are.

"We're looking for our friend," Steve explains, holding his hands where they can see them. Centaurs are deeply distrusting of magic and the last thing Steve wants to do is spook them. Then they'll be in real trouble. 

"You have no friends here," the leader rumbles and Darcy swears again before stepping in front of him. Her wand hangs in her hand, but Steve has seen firsthand how quickly she can cast a spell when she needs to. Even so, he puts a hand on his own wand, a jinx at the ready in case she needs backup.

"It's Jane," Darcy says, her voice remaining impressively steady. "Jane Foster. We think she might have come in here looking for ingredients for a potion and she hasn't come back."

"Jane?" A smaller centaur asks, stepping forward. His horse half is pure black, smoothly transitioning into the darkest torso that Steve has ever seen, and his eyes shine with worry.

"Yes," Darcy says. "You're Ragnar, aren't you?" The centaur looks pleased to be recognized. "Jane told me about you. Look we didn't mean to trespass and we know that you guys have issues with wizards but – "

"We will help you find your friend," the big centaur says, looking unhappy about it. Steve is surprised by his sudden change of heart, but he knows better than to look a gift centaur in the mouth. "But you must be quick. The stars shine darkly these nights. Come, we ride east." Without another word he turns and gallops away, and the rest of the herd follows.

"The stars shine darkly," Darcy says. "What the hell does that mean?"

“Apparently it means that we’re splitting up.”

“ _Point Me_ ,” Darcy commands, and her wand jerks to the left. “They’re going east, we’ll go west. She’s got to be somewhere in this stupid forest.” Jutting her chin out stubbornly, Darcy marches in the direction her wand is pointing, deeper into the darkness, and Steve wishes that they’d just told Thor. He doesn’t know if it’s the centaur’s vague warning or the sense of uneasiness that has been building in his gut since they stepped into the trees, but venturing deeper into the Forest seems like a very, very bad idea.

“Steve?” Darcy says, stopping short. “Do you hear that?”

“ _Sonorous_ ,” Steve says, pointing his wand at the sound. At first there’s nothing, and then a small voice:

“No.” Steve doesn’t recognize the speaker. The word is stretched thin with defiance and pain and – _terror_. There’s a pause. “I won’t do it. Not this.”

“Who the hell is that?” Darcy whispers.

“Only one way to find out.” Holding his wand out in front of him, Steve takes a step.

“No!” Green light shatters the darkness, and something small and compact knocks Steve to the ground before the spell crashes over his head. Steve blinks, suddenly aware that Darcy is on top of him, the tip of her nose inches from his.

“You okay?” she asks in a rush, all wide brown eyes. The fact that she doesn’t make a single joke is a testament to her concern.

“You’d make one hell of a right tackle,” Steve says.

“So I’ve been told. Who _was_ that?” she asks, getting to her feet and holding her hand out for him.

“No idea,” Steve says, hauling himself up. He doesn’t even know what spell that was. Nothing shoots off green light like that – nothing except the Killing Curse. Steve feels a weight drop in his gut before shaking it off. It wasn’t Avada Kedavra. There was no thump of a body, and there’s no student at Hogwarts capable of performing that kind of Dark magic anyway. He hopes. “We should head back.”

“We need to check it out,” Darcy disagrees. “We’re invested now. Come on.” She doesn’t wait for him to agree, weaving through the trees and vanishing from sight. Steve has no choice but to follow, and nearly crashes into her a moment later. Darcy is silent and as still as stone, frozen on the very edge of a clearing. Steve tracks her line of sight and his mouth opens just as Darcy shakes off the silence.

“Jane!” she shouts, barreling towards her friend. Jane stands in the clearing, too still to be natural, wand outstretched as if she’s trying to fend off some kind of an attack. An attack that obviously came before she could defend herself. “Merlin’s used bluejeans, _Jane_!” She practically screams the counter-curse for the Full Body-Bind, but it does no good. Her eyes don’t move and Steve would be willing to bet that she won’t remember whatever’s happened to her. Whoever did this didn’t want any witnesses.

Whoever was _making_ them do this. There were two people in the clearing, Steve is sure of it. Obviously the person who’s voice they heard was being given orders – orders, in this case, that they didn’t want to follow. Steve shoots red sparks into the air and presses his wand against his neck, shouting for help. Darcy tries every charm and countercharm she knows, but Jane isn’t moving.

“Do you think she’s been Petrified?” Darcy asks, her voice shaking slightly. She inhales deeply through her nose. “Can we even do that? I thought it was only Basilisks.”

“I don’t know,” Steve says helplessly, trying desperately not to look at Jane’s frozen face straight on. He tries a few spells of his own, but nothing takes. It doesn’t matter, because just a few moments later the centaurs burst through the trees.

“Jane?” the black one, Ragnar, says, circling her body. “What has happened?”

“We don’t know,” Steve says. “But we need to get her back to the castle. Can you – ” Steve stops, worrying his bottom lip. He doesn’t want to offend them, but there aren’t a lot of options for getting a frozen student out of the Forbidden Forest as fast as they need to get her out.

“Can you carry her back?” Darcy picks up when Steve falters. He flinches but she faces the herd without fear, her eyes blazing. “I know you guys have centaur pride or whatever, but she’s been attacked on _your_ turf, and you claim that she’s an honorary one of you. If this is how you treat each-other, no fucking wonder you’re all going extinct.” Steve inches closer to her, half-expecting the centaurs to strike her down, but they just stare at her in shock.

“We will take her back with us,” the leader says, looking at Darcy darkly. “And _you_ will watch how you speak to us. We are not to be trifled with.”

“Neither am I,” Darcy shoots back. “Are you taking us or not?” The leader makes a low rumbling in his chest.

“Please,” Steve adds, and then Jane is awkwardly thrown on Ragnar’s back. Darcy and Steve are lifted onto their own centaurs, and within minutes they’re clear of the trees. And someone must have seen Steve’s flare because a cluster of staff is already gathering.

“Help us!” Darcy orders, and the professors descend on Jane in a whirl of robes and wands. Darcy refuses to leave Jane’s side as she is taken up to the hospital wing and Steve is left trailing behind, dazed. Two attacks in the last two weeks. What the hell is happening in Hogwarts?

* * *

 

Thor, predictably, is losing his mind. Madame Simmons isn’t allowing anyone in to see Jane until she’s more sure of what happened and Thor is _not happy_. Darcy was shooed out of the hallway hours ago and has since disappeared, probably down one secret passage or another. The rest of SHIELD has amassed in the Room of Requirement, and everyone is trying to talk Thor off of the edge.

“Why was I not told that she was missing?” Thor demands when he’s finally composed enough to speak.

“Look – ” Steve says, holding his hands up.

“ _Why_?” Thor shouts and the air is suddenly ripe with the smell of ozone. Never good considering that Thor can perform weather magic unlike Steve has ever seen.

“Because it’s Jane, dude,” Clint says from his perch on the couch. “She’s always running off, looking for ingredients for potions, going stargazing with the centaurs, whatever it is that she does. If someone ran to you whenever we can’t find Jane – ”

“ – We would never stop running around this goddamn castle,” Natasha finishes for him. Thor whirls on them, clearly not reassured.

“Thor,” Bruce says softly, laying a hand on Thor’s shoulder. “She’s going to be okay. Madame Simmons is one of the best healers in the world, and she’s with her now. Jane is going to be okay. We’re going to find out who did this, and Jane is going to be okay.” Miraculously, the rage on Thor’s face calms and he settles in a chair, looking more exhausted than angry. He runs his hands through his long hair nervously and for a while, everyone is silent. Tony and Bruce mess around in their corner, while Clint and Natasha murmur to one another in a language that Steve doesn’t understand. Probably Russian. Steve just flips his wand through his fingers anxiously, worrying about Jane and wondering who did this to her, and who made them. He hasn’t told the rest of them what he heard in the forest – in the mindset he’s in, Thor probably wouldn’t handle the news well anyway. But Steve can’t help but think that the two attacks might be linked. Hogwarts hasn’t been this dangerous since – since the Second Wizarding War, and that was years and years ago. And suddenly suits of armor are going after first years and Jane is attacked in the forest? Why was she even in there, and was it a crime of opportunity, or did someone lure her there? There are too many questions and not enough answers. It doesn’t make sense. None of it makes any sense.

After nearly an hour of tense almost-silence, the door creaks open and Darcy slips inside. She hovers near the door for a moment, glaring at Thor, waiting for him to start shouting at her, and looking like she’s about to burst into tears.

“Darcy,” Thor rumbles and Darcy makes a small, strangled noise, before launching herself into his arms. Thor catches her without hesitation.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers and Steve can see tears soaking into Thor’s shirt, though he, like the others, is trying not to look at them. “I’m sorry I lost Jane. I’m sorry this happened. I’m sorry.”

“S’not your fault,” Thor mumbles into her hair. He holds her at arms length and Darcy bites her lip to keep it from trembling. “It’s Jane.”

“It’s Jane.” Darcy agrees.

Jane, as it turns out, is going to be fine. Whatever spell or charm was used to freeze her was similar to the Full Body-Bind, combined with something that wiped her memory for the three hours before the attack. Whoever cast it is gifted. Incredibly gifted, and apparently being ordered to go after students.

Thor and Darcy camp out inside her hospital room and not even Madame Simmons can drive them out once they’re there. Steve sits outside, waiting for any kind of news, exhausted and inexplicably guilty.

“Having déjà vu, Rogers?” Natasha asks quietly, her footsteps echoing in the empty hall. “We’ve seen a lot of the hospital wing in the last couple of weeks.”

“Too much,” Steve replies.

“You think they’re connected, don’t you?” She really should get tested to be a seer. Natasha is frighteningly psychic, even for a witch. Especially for a witch. “Steam is practically coming out of your ears. It’s a dead giveaway.”

“You scare me sometimes, you know that?”

“I do,” Natasha says, sliding down the cold stone to sit beside him. “And I think you’re right. Someone is going after students and at the rate they’re going, more people are going to get hurt.”

"Someone is,” Steve says. “And someone’s making them do it.” Natasha’s eyes flash with surprise and Steve relays the conversation – or, half the conversation – that he heard back in the woods.

“ _Koschei the Deathless_ ,” Natasha swears. She's always sworn on Russian wizards. “That means that someone out there is being blackmailed to hurt us? Kids? What the hell is the endgame?”

“Chaos? Terror? Mass hysteria? They might have a specific target in mind.” Steve scrubs his hand over his face. “I have no idea. I have to tell Pierce.” Natasha rolls her eyes. Right. Steve forgot about her inexplicable dislike of the Headmaster. He’s never quite understood it, but it’s Natasha, so he knows better than to ask.

“You need to tell the team first,” Natasha says. “That’s what we’re supposed to be, isn’t it? A team? This is what we were formed for.” She smiles at him. “I’m not as good at speeches as you, but I think I can work up to it if it’ll make you feel better.” Steve swats at her and Natasha ducks, smirking. He flips her off. “C’mon, boy wonder, let’s go fill in the rest of them.”

“You’re insane,” Tony says without preamble. He barely lets Steve finish his theory before jumping in. “You think there’s someone out there who’s not only attacking students, but blackmailing someone to attack students? Do you have any idea how nuts you sound?”

“I know it’s a long shot – ”

“A long shot? It’s insane. Who the hell has that kind of dirt on them anyway?” Steve pauses at that and Tony uses his silence to keep going. “I’m serious. Who is magically powerful enough to be going after students, but have something so horrible to hide that they’re willing to hurt people to keep it a secret?” Steve’s eyes flick to Natasha, but she just purses her lips and stays silent.

“It’s a hunch,” Steve admits. “But people are getting hurt. First Natasha, now Jane. Who’s next? Pepper? Rhodey? Any of them? Look,” Steve says, sweeping his gaze around the room to look them all in the eye. “Maybe I’m wrong. I hope I’m wrong. But if I’m not, and we let this happen…who here thinks that they could live with that?”

“I am with you,” Thor says without reservation. “Someone has hurt Jane and I want to bring them down. Personally.”

“You know Tash and I are always looking for a fight,” Clint says, lazily raising his hand. Natasha nods. Steve looks at Bruce, who raises his wand in agreement, and Steve knows that he’s thinking about how the attack made him hurt Natasha. With the rest of them in agreement, all eyes are on Tony.

“What the hell are we supposed to do? We’re students!”

“No,” Steve disagrees. “We’re SHIELD.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is so late ! Real life got in the way (I have 3 jobs lol I love being an adult) Still, I hope you all liked it! Kudos and comments keep me writing <3


	6. Bloody Fists and Cryptic Warnings

“Don’t engage him Rogers,” Natasha says coolly under her breath. “He’s baiting you.”

“It’s working,” Steve growls, glaring at Rumlow. “Asshole.” The hulking seventh year is sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table and has been enchanting quills and paper to fly at Hufflepuffs all morning. Rumlow’s a bully and a creep, and the fact that they share the same House colors has been a sore spot for years.

“Come on you’re just pissed because you used to be friends with him,” Natasha says blithely.

“Yeah back when I was skinny and stupid and still thought bisexuality was ‘just a phase.’” Something he has long since gotten over, especially once he realized that it is completely possible to be so wildly attracted to Bucky that it _hurt_ , and still be able to appreciate Natasha’s particular brand of terrifying beauty.

“He knows it’s going to get a rise out of you,” Natasha says, still unbothered. “Ignore him.” Easy for her to say. When Steve underwent the magical experiments that saved his life, his friends and Housemates split into two very distinct groups: Those who wanted something from him, now that he was shiny and new and different, and those who wanted nothing to do with him now that he didn’t need someone to make sure he didn’t keel over and die every time he cast a spell. Rumlow fell into the first category. He decided that Steve would be good at harassing people since he’d put on weight and could do more complicated magic without passing out. Steve, however, knew that his true calling wasn’t in being a bully and an asshole, so he told Rumlow exactly where he could shove his friendship.

Bucky punching him in the face really sent the message home. Ever since, Rumlow has been a constant irritation, a black stain on Steve’s life at school. Not to mention sported a very crooked nose on account of Bucky breaking it. That was a good day.

Today is shaping up to be a bad one.

“Alright,” Steve says finally, standing. Rumlow sees him and grins.

“Don’t engage.”

“Listen to your girlfriend, Stevie,” Rumlow says, sneering. “You are swinging towards chicks again, aren’t you?” Steve’s eyes flash to Natasha and she blinks, gesturing at the dark-haired Gryffindor. It’s a clear go-ahead. _Kick his ass_. Steve plans to.

“Hey buddy,” Steve says, twirling his wand like a drumstick. “How about you let these guys do their homework without acting like a dick?”

“How about you make me?” Rumlow challenges. Steve barks a laugh, rocking back on his heels and tilting his chin up defiantly. He’s no stranger to a fight, physical or magical. Even when he had no idea that magic was even real, back when he lived at home with his mother, Steve had a tendency to find trouble. Or, he went out and found it. Despite being skinny, asthmatic, and overall just frail, Steve picked fights with anything that moved. He knew it, his ma knew it, everyone knew it. It was easier to pick the fights than be picked on. His poor mother had a first aid kit better stocked than most ambulances. And when he was accepted to Hogwarts, the fights just became magical. Although, Steve learned pretty quick that most wizards don’t expect someone to forgo their wand completely and go for a sucker punch to the jaw. It’s worked more than once. “Y’know, I heard your nerd friend’s the one who got attacked out in the Forbidden Forest.” Rumlow’s smile widens, revealing yellowed teeth, and Steve can already tell he’s not going to like the next words out of his mouth. “I bet that she was cheating on the blonde moron. I bet, when they finally got into the forest, she chickened out, and got cursed because she wouldn’t fuck the guy.” Rumlow snickers to himself. “I’d like to shake the man’s hand.” Steve sees red and then two things happen at once:

One; Steve _does_ forgo his wand and leaps at Rumlow, tackling him to the ground, just as two; a violent spell hits him in the side, which would’ve taken him to his knees if Steve weren’t already on top of him. Rumlow gets one good swing in, the force of it snapping Steve’s head to the side, before he’s incapacitated.

“ _Fucking_ creep,” Steve shouts in his face, his fist crashing against Rumlow’s cheek before strong arms haul him to his feet.

“Steve,” Sam says into his ear. “Steve, I need you to breathe for me right now because you breaking his face helps no one.” Steve fights him for a moment longer before shoving Sam away, red tinge still coloring his vision. He turns away to see Natasha standing as well, the tip of her wand smoking and her green eyes bright with rage. Clint’s positioned very slightly in front of her, speaking furiously in Russian, wand held out in case he has to cast a quick Shield Charm.

“I’ll kill him,” she whispers. Steve can’t help but agree.

“Tash, babe, I know you want to but – ”

"How about you two put a leash on your bitch,” Rumlow gurgles from his spot on the floor, and all eyes snap to him.

Clint mutters something coldly and Natasha nods. Steve doesn't speak Russian, but he can guess what it means. Fuck him up. Natasha advances, her eyes slitted and her pupils huge against green irises. Rumlow's smile drops and he seems to sense that he's made a mistake, but before he can so much as draw his wand – and before Natasha can cast a single curse – a new voice booms over the Great Hall.

"What is going on here?" Natasha stops, her gaze - along with everyone else's - directed on Professor Fury. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher strides down the rows of tables and the crowd that has gathered parts to let him in. Steve stands straight, feeling blood drip from under his eye and his knuckles, knowing that there's no way this ends well. 

"Romanoff, Rumlow, Rogers. Come with me. Now." His tone brooks no argument and Steve feels his gut twist with anger and guilt.

"Professor, they were just - " Sam starts but Professor Fury silences him with a look from his one remaining eye. He wears a patch instead of a magical prosthetic, and the circumstances under which he lost the eye as an auror has been speculated about for years. No one knows what really happened and Fury isn't telling, and every year he stories grow more and more extravagant.

But the one eyed Deputy Headmaster is not someone to be trifled with and Steve, Natasha and Rumlow follow him into his office silently. Tash still seethes and Steve can practically feel the rage rolling off of her in waves. He hasn't seen her this angry in a long time. Rumlow should consider himself lucky - the last guy to get her this pissed ended up in the lake. The giant squid seemed lonely, was all Natasha would say about it when questioned. 

"Explain." Fury says.

"Professor, they attacked me for -" Rumlow starts but Steve cuts across him before he can finish.

"He was harassing Hufflepuff first years and I went to stop him. Rumlow instigated, not either of us." 

"You attacked me for no reason!" Rumlow protests. "Professor, she cursed me and he was beating the hell out of me!" Steve grits his teeth to keep from flying at him again.

"Consider yourself lucky," Natasha hisses. Rumlow arches an eyebrow, sneering at her.

"Say again?"

"Consider. Yourself. Lucky," Natasha says again, every word barbed and venomous. "Because if I hear Jane's name in your filthy mouth again I swear to Godric I'll -"

"Romanoff!" Fury cuts her off, giving her a sharp look and Natasha lapses back into furious silence. "Detentions, all of you. Rumlow and Rogers, you will report to Professor Pierce for your assignments. Romanoff, you will be with me.” He pauses to glower at the three of them, which is impressive considering his lack of vision. “Rumlow get out. You two, hang back." Rumlow smirks at them, strutting out of the office like he's won something, and Fury turns his attention back to Steve and Natasha. "What were you two thinking?"

"Professor - " Steve starts.

"Rhetorical question because obviously you _weren’t_ thinking. Rumlow is a thug and he probably had it coming, but you two can't lose his cool every time he runs his damn mouth. You're SHIELD now, and you can't be brawling in the Great Hall in front of the whole student body. You have to set an example."

"You don't know what he said." Natasha says darkly. She's been visiting Jane every day in the hospital wing, and is there nearly as often as Thor and Darcy. Her friendship is hard won, but Natasha would kill for the people she cares about. Sometimes Steve worries that someday she will.

"I don't care what he said. Rogers, I understand you getting involved. You're Mister Lack of Impulse Control." Steve ducks his head, his cheeks burning. "But I expected better from you Natasha. You will both receive your detention assignments within the next day. Now get the hell out of my sight." Steve turns on his heel with Natasha trailing behind him.

"You okay?" he asks when they're well away from the office. 

"Fine," she spits. Okay. Still angry. Steve doesn't push, knowing that she's impossible to talk to when she's like this. Steve will be the first to say that Rumlow deserved to be jinxed into oblivion, but the look in Natasha's eyes had promised more than that. All at once, his prickly but still lovable friend had been replaced with someone he couldn't recognize. Someone deadly. As she stalks away towards the Slytherin dungeons, Steve wonders how close that person is to the surface, and whether the Natasha he calls his friend is the real one at all.

* * *

 

The whole school has heard about the fight by the time the SHIELD meeting rolls around. It's amazing how fast gossip travels around Hogwarts and how distorted the story has already become. Instead of being hit with a single curse, Rumlow suffered several nearly-deadly assaults at Natasha's hands. For his part, the newest version has Steve hitting Rumlow so hard and so many times that he nearly caved in the right side of his face. Steve rolls his eyes when he hears that. He hit the guy a grand total of three times before Sam pulled him away. 

"Rumlow deserves it, if you ask me," Tony says. Which no one did, but that's never stopped him before. Natasha is still sullen and silent, lying with her head in Clint's lap and glaring down anyone who tries to talk to her. 

“You fought for Jane’s honor, and for that, I thank you both.” Thor says, inclining his head. Steve would’ve liked to keep Jane’s name out of it – the whole school is already talking about her because of the attack, and she’s never been one to seek out the limelight – but that part of the story spread like everything else. Of course it got back to Thor. “Though I wish I had been there to fight for her myself.”

“Buddy, if you had, I don’t think there’d be enough of Rumlow left to go to detention,” Steve says. “Between you and the cranky ginger over there, he’d be a grease spot on the floor of the Great Hall by now.” Natasha shoots sparks at him, but Steve can tell that she’s pleased. Or at the very least, her dark mood is starting to abate.

"That asshole's been picking on Puffs since I was a firstie," Darcy adds. She's long since decided that the SHIELD meetings were not exclusive and pops in every once in a while. Pierce and Fury didn't seem to mind, so Sam, Jane, Pepper, and Rhodey sometimes come in too. Steve has to admit he likes their company. There are so many polarized personalities in the club that adding a few more people to buffer makes things easier. At any rate, Pepper and Rhodey have kept Steve from killing Tony. Sometimes he’s a bit much to deal with.

All of them have assembled in the Room of Requirement, taking up space on couches and chairs that aren’t there when there’s only a few of them. Steve sits on the floor, leaning his back against a wimgbacked chair. "I think you should've hit him harder." Darcy continues.

"We've already got detentions," Steve puts in. "I think we got off easy."

"He shouldn't have," Clint says and Natasha grunts her agreement. Bruce gives him a stern look and Clint sticks out his tongue. "Come on, he's a Death Eater in the making, we all know it.”

“Speaking of,” Pepper says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “JARVIS and I were thinking about a way to possibly identify the spell that was used on Jane. It’s not much, but it’s a start.”

“Did you just say that you and JARVIS were talking?” Clint says, raising an eyebrow. “As in, you were having a chat with a _spell_?”

“Spell though I may be, I do have a sense of self and Miss Potts is a wonderful conversationalist,” JARVIS’ clipped, polite voice comes out of nowhere and he – Steve had given up and started thinking of the spell as a ‘he’ – shimmers into existence a hair’s breadth away from Clint’s nose. Clint yelps and scrambles away, upsetting Natasha and dumping her unceremoniously onto the stone floor.

“I’m kicking your ass for that Stark,” Natasha grumbles.

“Me? It was JARVIS!” Tony complains.

“Pardon me, sir, but I have no corporeal body, and therefore no ass to kick.” JARVIS chimes in.

“JARVIS’ nonexistent ass aside,” Pepper cuts in before they can take the conversation further away from the matter at hand. “We think that we can figure out the spell, and that’s one step closer to figuring out who’s doing this.”

“And who’s making them do it.” Steve adds.

“And who’s making them do it.”

“I’ll go,” Darcy volunteers. She looks like the words are hard to say and Steve can understand why, but she doesn’t back down. “Anyone coming with me?”

“I will accompany you,” Thor says, standing.

“Me too. JARVIS goes where I go.” Tony says, kicking his feet onto a footstool.

“Then let’s hit it,” Darcy says, knocking his long legs down. Tony’s eyes go wide.

“Wait, you mean _now_?” he asks.

“No time like the present.” Everyone turns as a new voice appears at the door. Jane. Thor leaps to his feet, stopping just shy of sweeping her into his arms. “Thor, I’m okay,” Jane promises, touching his wrist.

“You should not be out of bed,” Thor says, holding her face gently between his hands and pressing his forehead to hers. It’s so intimate that Steve averts his eyes. “Jane, you’re still recovering.”

“What Madame Simmons doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” Jane says evenly. “And there’s no way that the centaurs are going to let you back into the forest unless I’m there.” Jane smiles a little. “Ragnar didn’t say much, but apparently Darcy made something of an impression.” Darcy grins, pleased with herself.

“Well you know me,” she says, waving a hand. “Always making friends. C’mon nerd, let’s go. You too Goldilocks.” She stops at Thor’s confused expression. “Goldilocks? And the three bears? Because you’re blonde?” Thor’s confused expression doesn’t waver. “Never mind,” she sighs, then mutters under her breath: “Purebloods.” With Thor still looking confused, they walk out, leaving Steve and the rest behind.

“Wait, what are the rest of us supposed to do?” Clint asks.

“I have an idea,” Bruce volunteers. “But I need you and Natasha to steal something for me.”

 “I’m in,” Natasha says without hesitation. “I need to blow off steam and petty theft is the way to do it.”

“It’s actually not all that petty,” Bruce says with a rare smile. “I need you to steal Jane’s samples from the hospital. I’ve been doing a little reading on Muggle reverse engineering and I think I might be able to – maybe – get the magical signature of whoever cast the spell.”

“So Clint and Tash do the whole stealing thing and what? The rest of us just sit around here?” Sam asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You are going to run interference,” Steve says when Bruce falters. “Make sure no one suspects them. Pepper and Rhodey – ”

“Nuh-uh,” Rhodey says, shaking his head. “Pepper and I will be going back to our dorms and making sure no one comes your way.”

“Because Merlin knows that people are still talking about the fight,” Pepper adds. “We’ll make a distraction.”

 “I’ll come with you,” Steve says, realizing that he’s the only one without an assignment. Realizing that they all suddenly have assignments, like they’re a real team.

“You should go update Pierce,” Bruce suggests quietly. “He’s the one who told us to look into this, and if Natasha and Clint get caught – I’m not saying that you will – ” Bruce amends quickly, seeing Natasha’s offended look. “But if they do, we’re going to need him to back us up.” It’s a fair point, but Steve can’t help but feel like he’s drawn the short straw. There’s something exciting about acting like they’re actually going to make a difference, whether it’s true or not, and he hates feeling relegated to the sidelines. Still, Bruce is right. On the off chance that all of this blows up in their faces, it’s better that Professor Pierce be informed.

Steve heads out the main doorway, while Clint and Natasha slip down a passage that the Room creates for them that will no doubt lead into the Hospital Wing. Sam goes with them, and Pepper and Rhodey head out with Steve. So as not to look suspicious and probably failing, they make a point to split up as soon as possible, and Steve finds himself alone on the way to the Headmaster’s office.

“I almost feel sorry for you.” Steve feels the icy, familiar voice raising goose bumps on his skin and turns to face Loki, rearranging his features so that they’re unreadable. The Slytherin is leaning against a pillar and inspecting his fingernails, the picture of blasé calm, but Steve can feel his sharp edges lurking right beneath the surface. In that way, he’s like Natasha, but that’s where the similarities end. Loki has always rubbed Steve the wrong way, since the moment he met him. Quick with a curse or a scathing remark, and completely incapable of letting Thor live his life in peace, Loki is not the kind for social calls. If he’s here, it means he wants something. And that is never good.

“Why is that?” Steve asks, fighting the urge to rub away the headache he feels coming on.

“Look at you,” Loki scoffs. “Prancing about like you’re special. Even your name. SHIELD. Somehow you manage to be presumptuous, pretentious, and while still being completely useless.”

“Well thank you for that,” Steve says. “And I’d love to stay and chat some more, but honestly I think the smell of your hair gel is going to make me have an asthmatic relapse. So.” He makes to walk away when a cold, long-fingered hand catches him by the wrist.

“Be careful, Rogers,” Loki says in a low voice. His eyes are eerily bright and Steve can’t remember if Loki had bags under his eyes the last time Steve saw him. “Hogwarts, your beloved school, might just be the most dangerous place in the world. Don’t forget that.” He releases Steve’s hand and walks away without another word. Steve starts after him, but Loki vanishes around a corner as if he’d never been there at all. For a few moments, Steve stays frozen in place, Loki’s words echoing in his head.

Steve had always known that the school was dangerous – they kept a giant squid in the lake just for fun, for Godric’s sake – but there hadn’t been an incident in years. Until now, that is.

_Hogwarts might just be the most dangerous place in the world. Don’t forget that_.

He won’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this just got 1k hits and i'm so excited! thank you guys so much.


	7. A Lot to Talk About

“So you’re doing _what_ exactly?” Steve asks, standing over Bruce’s shoulder and peering into his workspace. Something smells suspiciously like burnt hair and magic is so thick in the air that it’s practically palpable.

Unsurprisingly, Natasha and Clint were able to steal Jane’s samples from Madame Simmons’ office, and now they’re off somewhere doing Merlin knows what, while Steve and Bruce wait for the others to return. Steve’s not exactly worried, but it is getting late and the forest is forbidden for a reason. Not to mention Loki’s warning is still running circles round his mind. _Hogwarts might just be the most dangerous place in the world_. It’s no secret that there are some hazards associated with the school, but the way Loki spoke, it was like he knew more than he was letting on. Never good, especially not with Thor’s brother. And why was Loki warning him in the first place? It’s out of character for someone who prefers to keep his motivations a secret and watch as they unfold and very often blow up in everyone’s faces.

“You’re Muggleborn, right?” Bruce asks. Steve nods, trying to shake Loki’s voice out of his head. And the overpowering smell of his hair gel. Why he feels the need to slick his hair back so severely has always been a mystery to Steve. “Halfblood. My mother’s a witch, dad’s a Muggle,” Bruce says, pointing to himself. It’s not something Steve knows, nor something he’s ever asked or cared about. Blood status, while important to some, isn’t something Steve’s ever cared about. “My dad’s an engineer and he basically took things apart for a living. Once he saw how they worked, he could usually put it back together, or make his own.”

“Reverse engineering,” Steve supplies. It’s a phrase he’s heard before in passing, but never really understood. Like most Muggleborns, Steve can pass in the Muggle world, but his knowledge of technology is very basic. He can get along fine, but anything more complicated than a basic phone or television is completely foreign to him. Not to mention how unfavorably electrical devices react to wizards – they’ve been known to come alive when exposed to magic or magical people for too long. His ma still hasn’t forgiven him for the coffeemaker incident of 2012.

“Exactly. Using the same logic, I should be able to deconstruct Jane’s samples – the residual magic that was left behind from her attacker – and recreate their signature.” Bruce smiles a little to himself. “Unfortunately, the details are a little sketchy.”

“If anyone can figure it out, it’s you,” Steve says, clapping Bruce on the shoulder. He means it. Bruce is brilliant, and this is something that Steve has never heard of before – even now, witches and wizards are dismissive of Muggle science, thinking that their magic is superior. As far as Steve knows, no one has tried to apply Muggle techniques to spellcraft.

“I never thanked you,” Bruce says after a new minutes of comfortable silence. Comfortable silence that is immediately made uncomfortable as Steve looks away, rubbing the back of his neck. “For saving Natasha from me.”

“Don’t mention it,” Steve says. Please.

“Steve,” Bruce says and Steve looks up at his tone. Bruce looks as awkward as Steve feels, running his hands through his curly hair. “I mean it. I would’ve killed her, and you stopped me. Not only that, you kept my secret, when anyone else would’ve told. I…” he trails off, teeth worrying his bottom lip and Steve is suddenly very worried about what he’s going to say next. “I want to learn how to control it. The wolf, I mean.”

“You want to _what_?” Steve can’t help but ask. Bruce’s eyes darken but he steamrolls on, taking a deep breath.

“I want to learn how to control it. Or, a least teach it who’s friendly.” Steve closes his eyes.

“How?” he asks, trying to sound supportive when everything out of Bruce’s mouth is screaming: _TERRIBLE PLAN_.

“Well I was thinking that first you could make me angry.”

“Bruce – ” Steve starts.

“It’s not a bad idea.” Both students jump as a voice sounds from behind them and Steve shoots off a jinx before he can think twice. Natasha deflects it with a lazy flick of her wand, raising a red eyebrow at his skittishness. “Okay jumpy, let’s try to remember our deep breathing exercises and not hex people when they walk into a room. Sound like a plan?”

“Sorry,” Steve says sheepishly, stowing his wand away.

“I’m serious though,” Natasha goes on without missing a beat. “With something that powerful inside of you Bruce, there are going to be more incidents. It’s just a fact. If you can control the wolf, even a little, you could save lives.” Steve gapes at the two of them. There’s no way that they should even be considering this. “Ignore Blue Eyes over there. I can help you.”

“What the hell do you know about training a werewolf?” Steve asks. “No offence, Bruce.”

Bruce just shakes his head. “None taken.”

“I can do it. A werewolf is nothing compared to a Russian timberwolf and Bruce doesn’t scare me,” Natasha says, leaving Steve with a whole new host of questions. First, what the hell is a Russian timberwolf and why does he suddenly have the mental image of Natasha facing off with the wolfy beast even bigger than the one Bruce turns into. Natasha turns to Bruce. “Do you want to?” His dark eyes go wide and suddenly he seems very hesitant.

“Now?” he asks. Natasha nods and Steve can’t help feeling his heart jump into his throat. “Natasha I don’t – ”

“We have returned!” Tony announces, kicking the door open so hard that it slams. Steve and Bruce both jump, and Natasha slowly turns around, giving no sign that she’s startled. Tony, Jane, Thor, and Darcy pile into the Room, looking tired but triumphant. Which is appropriate considering that it’s close to two in the morning. “And let it be known that the centaurs _really_ don’t like Darcy.”

“Ragnar doesn’t not like me,” Darcy points out, looking a little offended.

“Congrats Darce, you managed not to insult one centaur out of an entire herd. Well played.”

“Shut up Stark, it’s not like you’re an expert at not offending people,” Darcy complains, crossing her arms over her chest. “Besides, I was trying to get Jane back to the castle and _forgive me_ if my manners go by the wayside when my best friend is frozen in the middle of the Forbidden Forest.” Steve snorts as Tony is, for the first time he can remember, rendered speechless.

“Now that we’ve settled that,” Natasha says coolly, “did you find what you were looking for?”

“I am happy to report that I was able to analyze the magical residue,” JARVIS says, materializing out of thin air. “And I have many spellbooks on file. I am running through them now. I should have an answer shortly.”

“In the meantime, we should all get some sleep,” Bruce says. “JARVIS will have an answer in the morning and we can pick up there.” He schools his features into a look of sleepy neutrality but Steve knows that he’s relived that the rest of SHIELD burst in before Natasha could do something to make him lose control.

Steve also knows that Natasha isn’t going to give this up.

As it turns out, the spell that was used against Jane is a Full Freeze spell. _Duratus tempira._ It’s rare, powerful magic that not only freezes the victim in place, but also stops time around them. Which explains why she never saw her attacker, and wasn’t able to hear the conversation between the two in the woods. It’s also not a Latin spell, but originated in some small Eastern European dialect and was then translated. According to JARVIS, the spell was so powerful that it had to have been incanted in its native language. Which means that whoever cast the spell is fluent in more than one magic language. Which is terrifying.

"It’s a good thing this spell didn’t originate in Russia or you’d be our first suspect,” Tony quips the next day. Case and point, Natasha knows spells in more than one language.

“Please,” Natasha says, waving his accusation away. “If this was me, you’d all be comatose, including whoever was extorting me.” She pauses when everyone looks at her funny. “Come on, you know I’ve thought of a thousand ways I could do this better than whoever _is_ doing it.”

“Merlin’s beard you’re sexy when you’re hypothetically plotting devastation and mayhem,” Clint says, pulling her in for a kiss. Sexy isn’t the word that Steve would use, but to each their own.

“This is some seriously complex magic,” Tony complains some time later, trying for the tenth time to successfully cast the spell. The fact that the attacker chose to do such a difficult curse instead of hurting Jane speaks to exactly how unwilling he is. But being unwilling doesn’t make him any more dangerous – in fact, it might make this whole thing even _more_ dangerous. Whoever is making the attacker hurt students, if they know how much he doesn’t want to, they might be forced to take even more drastic measures to achieve their goals.

Goals that Steve is still trying to work out. Unless he can figure out what the mastermind wants – and how exactly they’re controlling the attacker – people are still going to get hurt. Innocent people. Their classmates. Not for the first time, Steve marvels at how hilariously out of their league they are. If the fact that Tony is struggling with the spell is any indication, whoever they’re up against – the two people they’re up against – are insanely powerful. It doesn’t bode well. Not to mention Loki’s nagging warning that Hogwarts is more dangerous than any other place on earth.

“Knut for your thoughts?” Sam asks, sitting down beside him.

“My thoughts aren’t worth more than that?” Steve asks in a pathetic attempt to lighten the mood.

“Hey man I’m fucking broke,” Sam cracks and Steve tries to smile. “Steve. Come on, I know that look.”

“We’re kids, Sam,” Steve says after a long silence. “Some of us aren’t even of age yet. And Pierce and Fury want us going after whoever is doing this like we’re some kind of Junior Auror unit?” Steve sighs, dragging his fingers through his short hair. “I’m seventeen. Pierce is acting like I’m supposed to be some kind of leader but what do I have to bring to the table here? A weird metabolism and the magical experiments that kept me alive when I was sick?” It’s the first time Steve’s voiced this particular concern and he can feel embarrassment coloring his cheeks. This group is supposed to be the best of the best and for the most part they are – Tony and Bruce are brilliant, with Bruce having the added bonus of being a werewolf. Natasha is terrifying and also Natasha, and when she and Clint duel together, they’re just about unstoppable. Thor is practically royalty and can perform some of the most powerful weather magic Steve’s ever seen. Their inclusion in SHIELD makes sense – they’re all exceptional. All of them except for Steve.

“You want some balloons for that pity party?” Sam asks, not giving an inch. Steve blinks at him. That’s not the answer he was expecting. “C’mon Steve. You think that anyone else could get these morons to work together like you can?” Sam gestures to Natasha and Tony, who are both trying unsuccessfully to cast the spell. “I mean look at those two. Nat would have ripped him to pieces weeks ago.” Sam claps him on the shoulder. “You’re the glue, man. You’re keeping them together. But if you want to mope, be my guest.”

"Next time I was affirmations I’ll go to Natasha,” Steve says.

“Yeah and she’ll smack you, call you stupid, and not even bother to make you feel better.” Sam says, grinning. Steve finds it easier to smile this time, feeling slightly better about the whole situation. Sam’s always been good at finding the bright side, while still maintaining his notorious zero tolerance policy for bullshit. “Go to Natasha,” Sam says, chuckling to himself. “Yeah okay. Go to Natasha to make yourself feel better, of all the fool ideas…”

“Shut up,” Steve says, shoving him, and Sam slugs his shoulder.

“Well now that you’ve gotten over yourself, how about you explain the experiment you’ve got going on here.” Appreciating the distraction, Steve launches into an explanation of his latest project, feeling somehow like things might be okay.

* * *

 

That feeling lasts nearly twenty-four hours. Twenty-two, to be exact, and it’s during the twenty-second that Steve walks into the Room of Requirement to find Natasha facing off against a very angry, very wolfy Bruce Banner.

“Godric _fucking_ Gryffindor,” Steve swears. Natasha waves at him from the side of the room where Bruce has cornered her, looking for all the world like they’re just meeting for a chat.

“Hey Steve,” Natasha says coolly. The wolf-Banner whirls towards him, baring his teeth and snarling. A long string of saliva drips from his jaws and Steve can remember just how shockingly red those same jaws were when they were coated in Natasha’s blood. Natasha, who is just standing there, completely unbothered. Steve casts a shield charm as Banner takes a step towards him, but Natasha whistles sharply and he turns his attention back to her. “Bruce, it’s me,” she says, her voice miraculously even. “Natasha. Here.” Slowly, she extends a hand – her wand hand – close enough that Banner would be able to bite it off at the wrist and swallow it, wand and all. “This is me.” Steve prepares to launch himself across the room again, but Banner doesn’t move. Finally, and after whole eternity crammed into a single second, the wolf leans forward, sniffing Natasha’s wand. “Hey, there you go.”

The calm lasts a full four seconds more before the door of the Room of Requirement is thrown open with a _bang_ and then everything dissolves into chaos. Banner roars, swiping at Natasha with wickedly curved claws, and she darts away just in time to avoid having her insides spilled all over the stone floor – again.

“You didn’t lock the door?” Natasha demands, her eyes burning a hole into Steve’s forehead.

“You didn’t enchant the door to keep everyone out but us – look out!” Steve shouts as Banner comes at her again, this time snapping at her with his teeth.

“What the _fuck is going on here_?” Tony – of course it would be Tony, no one else demands to make an entrance every time they come into a room – shouts, somehow managing to sound indignant. Steve shoves him aside as Banner turns his attention back to them and charges. Tony casts a shield charm, adding his magic to Steve’s, and the wolf bounces off of the magical barrier, howling angrily. “What the _hell_ is that?” Tony demands in a whisper as Banner claws at the shield.

“That would be Bruce,” Steve replies tensely, barely paying attention to him. He’s more focused on Natasha sneaking up behind the wolf. He wants to shout at her, tell her to get away while she still can, but Natasha catches his gaze and puts a finger to her lips.

“That’s _Bruce_?” Tony repeats. “Why the hell didn’t he tell me about this?” Steve has to hold himself back from smacking him upside the head. Now is not the time. “What in Merlin’s name does Tash think she’s doing?” Tony asks. Steve wishes he had an answer – and then Tony does something very stupid.

“JARVIS! _”_ Tony shouts, suddenly darting from the protection of the shield. He throws his wand into the air and something bright explodes, making stars dance in Steve’s eyes. When he can see again, the wolf has Tony trapped in a corner. “Well that didn’t work,” Tony says mostly, to himself, and then there’s a shout of pain as Bruce swipes at him with his claws. Something shimmers in front of Tony but he still collapses into a heap, the fabric of his shirt stained red. Steve swears, throwing himself at Bruce the same moment that a spell collides with his midsection and sends him flying into the wall. _What the_ … he thinks blearily before Natasha whistles sharply through her teeth. Banner’s attention is wholly on her now, with Tony and Steve both incapacitated. Which is probably a good thing since neither of them are in any shape to fight him. Steve tries to pull himself to his feet, but the spell is holding him down, forcing him into stillness and he wants to scream.

The wolf snarls and howls, pacing back and forth. Natasha snaps something in Russian before casting a quick spell and Banner steps backwards as if he’s been struck. For a moment, he seems dazed, and Natasha says the phrase again. Steve expects him to charge her, but Banner is still, regarding Natasha with baleful gold eyes.

Slowly, much more slowly than extending her wand to him, she holds out her open palm to the wolf. Steve holds his breath, feeling his heart jump as Natasha lightly presses her palm against Banner’s snout and murmurs something unintelligible.

“Come back to us, okay?” she asks softly, her voice unlike Steve’s ever heard it before. Feather-light and gentle. “Be Bruce again.” There’s a moment’s pause, and then the wolf is gone, replaced by a Bruce that looks just as awestruck as Steve feels.

“Tony,” is the only word out of Bruce’s mouth, and he scrambles to Tony’s side. Natasha kneels beside Steve and mutters a countercharm, and then Steve can move again.

“Sorry,” she murmurs out of the side of her mouth, but Steve doesn’t respond, too focused on Tony. They all crowd around Tony’s limp body, and Steve imagines that he can hear all of their hearts pick up. “Please,” Bruce is whispering. “Please, please…” Natasha rips Tony’s shirt off – which isn’t hard, considering that it’s already nearly torn to pieces – revealing something pulsing and bright right over where his heart should be. Somehow Bruce’s claws didn’t go deep, making little more than shallow surface wounds. Which doesn’t make sense –

“I was able to absorb most of the impact,” JARVIS comments, shimmering into existence right beside them.

"What…” Steve starts, still staring at the thing in Tony’s chest. “What is that?”

“You’re not the only magical miracle around here Rogers,” Tony wheezes, sounding like he’s got sawdust in his windpipe. “Please tell me nobody kissed me,” he hacks as Natasha hauls him upright.

“Nobody kisses you,” she obliges, rolling her eyes. “What the hell is in your chest, Stark?”

“It’s called an arc reactor,” Tony mumbles his reply. “It’s Muggle technology and it’s keeping me alive.” He pauses, looking Bruce up and down. “Was no one going to tell me that your lycanthropy is kicking in again?”

Steve sighs. “I think we have a lot to talk about.”

“ _Colloportus_ ,” Natasha says, pointing her wand at the door and sealing them all inside.

“Yeah,” Bruce says, tugging on a dark curl. “I guess we do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'd like to apologize for posting this so late, i have 3 jobs and not a lot of time to write, so please bear with me. as always, kudos and comments are much appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> so as always, i hope you liked it and also please review and send kudos! (kudos are amazing but reviews hold my heart)


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